Pandora
by Genjoe
Summary: An OZ mining crew finds something in the blackness of space that should have been left alone.
1. Chapter 1

Pandora

Prologue

It was was cold on the ass end of space.

The sun was smaller this far out, and even earth looked to be an almost comical basketball to the dim star.

"Operations, this is survey team Alpha-1, over."

The sudden shock of the radio doing little to phase the operations director of the OZ 3rd Resource Group. Such sudden abrupt calls after long periods of silence was common on the fringe of humanity's reach.

"This is Operations go ahead Alpha-1, over." his voice carrying a complete lack of enthusiasm for his job. He'd signed up hoping to be in OZ special development group and work his way to star engineer; pioneering new techniques in the creation of alloy's for armor. Maybe even something that could compete with Gundanium.

But like all dreams for glory, they fell short. Testing out as 'proficient' in chemistry and exceptional in geology he soon rose to the prestigious rank of Operations Director of OZ deep space resource devision.

Miner.

That's all that amounted to. In the far off reaches of space to boot!

What god had he pissed off in another life?

The radio shocked back to life. "Operation's we're seeing some kinda blue light toward the mars belt, over."

Director Von grunted in annoyance, "Probably just a comet, that's 'no man's land' out that way anyway, over." He leaned back in his chair looking out the large window of the command deck peering once more at the image of the earth in the distance.

No man's land was a term that deep space travelers had come to adopt as territory that man had yet to venture past, the absolute edge of where man had been.

Starting to fall back into his trance like state he was a annoyed little hear the radio to once again shock to life.

"Comet's don't blink, over." Von frowned at the transmitter, "Give me coordinates of that light, over." Von typed up the remote monitor controls on to his display, normally he'd have delegated this to one of the techs but it was the late shift and running on minimal staff.

"Target is off the starboard side of the rig, lateral 95 degrees, up 20degrees, over." Von was already switched over to starboard camera's and adjusting to match direction by the time the radio cut.

Sure enough their was a blinking blue light, in no man's land. Frowning a bit at the light he zoomed the camera's lens till it could focus no more but the image only made the glowing blob of blinking light bigger.

Von may have been on the ass end of space, but that wasn't to say he was ignorant of the current state of war or about the Gundams. Every one got the bulletin about them. Even in the ass end of space.

"Alpha-1, you and your team return to the rig and secure all mining hangers, over" he flipped off the com not needing an acknowledgment, and hit the P.A. For his second lieutenants quarters. "Pier, get up, we're going to battle stations, somethings was spotted in no man's land." about all he got was a groan before he switched to another officers P.A.

* * *

Going out in a space Leo was not his idea of a great plan, but it was all the comfort he could afford seeing as it was the only thing resembling a Mobile Suite on the mining rig. He could have swore he saw the weapons master blow dust off of one of them.

He checked his radar.

It showed, but the object must have be pretty large, or his scope was malfunctioning. Von clicked the magnification on his control. It wasn't blinking in a traditional manner but more flickering, like a flame does in a light breeze or when someone walks by a candle. As to what it was, Von could only figure that something of that mass and size had to be either part of a colony or a large battle ship.

These did little to placate 'why' it was out this far in space. A long forgotten colony maybe?

Well no matter, in the hour they would be upon the source of the light, which even now as they got closer was starting to bathe their purple space Leo's in a blue light. As to why he was leading this little RECON mission? Like hell he was going to pass up the opportunity to be 'doing something' to hell with the fact he might die in the process or be piloting a Mech with inferior armor and to hell with garbage can maneuverability.

A little part of him even hoped that he'd die so he'd get out of the mind numbing career he was in.

**Thu-Thump.**

Von blinked.

_What the hell was that?_

He looked down at his scopes noting only the stander radio noise this far out. Wondering if it was his helmet he pounded on the earphone with the side of his fist to see if it would happen again.

Nothing.

Looking to the other two suites flanking him he considered asking if they had also heard the sound. He shook this idea off noting that it was just the late shift getting to him. Though a little piece of him felt a nagging that it sounded like...

Who was he kidding? Sound didn't transmit through space.

Need to switch to Decaf.

* * *

Something was spinning.

He could make it out in the blue glow that now permeated the small cluster of asteroids.

The light would hit the object as it spun, and was easily twice the glowing objects width. It seemed to roll at a lazy pace and even seemed small enough that the larger object could eclipse it. This did nothing more than underscore how small his Leo was.

Von felt his natural curiosity go from fascinated to fearfully nagging. He Knew that the object was large, even at a distance on radar. Now how ever it was big enough to black out said radar.

The light it threw was almost a second sun, but according to his thermal graph it wasn't giving off any radiation. In fact it seemed to be doing just the opposite. Whenever something radiating energy would get near the glowing mass it would suck it in almost like an amoeba or jelly fish.

For that reason alone they stopped just before the hulking strange object.

"What'd ya think Captain?" Von heard his lieutenant crackle over his radio. He chewed on his lip before responding, "I'm thinking..."

He heard a female voice cackle across the radio, "How gallant and inspiring of our commander." Von briefly wondered if the rest of the search party would turn him in if his Leo's rifle went off in to that bitch's fuel tank.

That's when he got an idea.

"Alright, Agatha..." He said in an almost parental tone, "You go see what it is."

The COM soon filled with snickers of the other pilots.

He heard the bitchy blond sigh. "Fine! What do you propose then?"

Giving his screen one last look he finally took a deep breath and exhaled tiredly. "Alright. I'll take point. We'll spread out hiding behind the asteroids and at the first sign of trouble..."

"Get back to the ship and radio for help?" Pier shouted with some enthusiasm. "No! You come drag my ass out then we get help!" He was a miner after all.

With that the handful of space Leo's blasted into different directions. Von felt some apprehension as he flew straight ahead with no cover before the dark object and is unholy flame. Keeping his mech's lights off, he soon found himself mere meters before the dark mass.

It was strange looking.

It seemed to be spread in an almost cross like pattern with a strange sphere like object at the junction of the object while the lower section forked at the bottom. The spinning object before it seemed to be a thin twisted loop that spun giving it the illusion of a self devouring figure eight. Their were open spots on the objects armor that looked suspiciously organic, or some kind of strange fibrous material.

Moving up the object more he soon was face to face with a strange looking structure. It almost looked like a face, it was hard to see with the glowing light behind it, and why did it have a horn sticking out from the front of it?

Von looked down to pick up more information on the object only to see all of his scanning gear peaked or filled with static. His eyebrows drawing down, he looked up to stare at the 'face' of the strange solar drift wood.

**Th-Thump.**

His vision blurred but he quickly shook it off. That's not just fatigue. He considered calling the others to confirm the strange noise but stopped when he saw something to the right of the 'face'

Propelling his Mech further down the branching mass he could see something bright green in a black hexagon on the branched section. Not sure of his own eyes he broke his own instructions and flipped on his search lamps.

Words.

He could make out words on the side of the object!

"Guys come out and turn your lights on this thing!" He said in almost panicked urgency.

"What's wrong Captain?" Pier asked.

Von ignored the question and throttled back to get a better look at the thing.

One by one the lights of the other Leo's shone upon the object revealing purple and black, with slashes of green.

"Oh, god..." He heard Agatha say.

She was followed by the cursing and befuddled voices of the other search members.

"What is it?" Pier, asked to no one in particular.

"EVA-01..." Von seemed to mumble to himself.

"What?" he heard Pier ask.

"Its shoulder, said EVA-01..." He said a bit louder, only to receive more silence.

The miners looked on in fear and amazement at the strange and enormous Mobile Suite before them. None could find the words that seemed to fit the thing and the strange red spinning object before it.

They stared at if for a full five minutes before Von snapped out of his shock.

"Pier, head back to the rig and have them do an emergency Detach; we're gonna tow this with the gravity tractor,. Agatha, I want you to get on the horn and send a priority one message about this to his Excellency."

"What should I tell him?" For once she didn't sound like a bitch.

"Just send a message saying that we need him and an armed escort out here now, not one word as to this?" The end of his statement seeming grim.

"Sir, Why not?" she asked.

Von frowned, "Cause if those Gundam pilots get one whiff of this, they're gonna come for it..."


	2. Chapter 2

Pandora

Chapter 1

Lady Une was in a bad mood.

"I see no reason why Colonel Treize should make arrangements to see a 'Mining Rig' without a goddamn reason as to why!"

She'd been arguing with this lowly Captain for almost an hour now about finding something in what he called 'No Mans Land'

"Colonel, the matter of secrecy on this must be maintained, I cannot allow the chance that we might be being monitored." Une sneered at the monitor, "Are you implying that my security is in question?"

Venom dripped from her words. Her eyes peered as dangerous slits behind her glasses, "Such insubordination is punishable by tribunal, and can even lead to death by firing squad. No OZ solider is exempt from this. Even Colonel Zechs was not immune for such treason and is waiting even now to be put to death."

She watched the squalid little Captain blanch at her statement, but soon found that his face had hardened again, "Then that's a risk I have to take, What we're towing back is much to important to speak of even on encrypted channels, and I request a full armed escort to either Fortress Barge or a colony with equal space and defenses. Over and out."

Une blinked as the monitor winked and left the words 'End Transmission' on her console.

She had fully expected the Operations Director to cave under her threat. The fact the he redoubled his efforts was surprising to say the least. What could he have possibly found that he couldn't say over a secure line? At the moment she wasn't sure she could afford directing her attention to the 3rd divisions 'secret'. Her priorities were capturing the Gundam pilots and securing relations with the colonies.

Though she could send Noin in her place.

No. Her character was under question after the scandal that was Antarctica. If the cargo they were towing was truly that sensitive, she didn't want someone whose loyalty was in question to be over seeing such an operation. Damn this was giving her a head ache, if she only had some reliable people under her command she could delegate accordingly and not have to deal with doing the work all herself!

Taking a calming breath she closed her eyes and cleared her mind.

_Alright, what would his Excellency do in my place?_

She let the idea roll around in her consciousness for a moment thinking of all the decisions she'd seen the object of her affection perform and execute. He would be calm, composed, dignified.

He would go.

Sighing, she opened her eyes and dialed in the bridge.

"Ma'am!" Lieutenant Nichol appeared saluting her on monitor.

"Get a squad of Mobile Dolls prepped on an escort shuttle and have some extra provisions packed and ready with in the hour," she said as she took off her glasses and carefully whipped the lenses with a handkerchief.

"Ma'am?" Nichol posture became uneasy.

She put her glasses back on.

"We're going on a field trip Lieutenant."

* * *

Three days had been trying on Lady Une's patience.

She internally swore to the gods that if this Captain hadn't found a Gundam or the secrets of the universe she was going to order the six Mobile Dolls and their relays commanders to turn the Mining Rig and its crew into slag. She thought being cooped up in a vacuum sealed Barge or even the floating terrarium know as a Space Colony was bad. They didn't even come close to having to share a cramped escort shuttle with and two other officers. Thankfully the two made themselves scarce unless absolutely necessary.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose feeling frustrated and gross after not having the ability of taking a shower on the small transport. If any one thing was a blessing about being in space, it was the sleeping accommodations, nothing quite compared to weightless sleep. It was probably some of the least fitful sleep she could remember in her life, promoting pleasant dreams and letting her feel well rested.

She still had gnawing doubts, though, she was in charge of the situation with the Gundams as well as having to break a few appointments with colony leaders to deal with whatever it was that was so damned important.

She looked out into the blackness of space, it was much colder out this way than it was around the colonies. The light of the sun shone dimmer out this far and the landscape of the earth was obscured into brown puzzle pieces on a blue ball. These things together seemed to undermine the carefully placed checks and balances in her will. The result was a very crabby lady Une, even going so far as to snap at her officers while dinning.

Lucky for her though that Lieutenant Nichol knew the signs of deep space induced stress. Having spent a majority of his career in the black he could tell the symptoms at a glance. He felt little alarm at the Colonels short temper, noting that the episodes were only mild and since she hadn't gone for her gun yet they would be okay for now.

Quiet enveloped the cabin as the three occupants tried to busy themselves.

"This is OZ 3rd Resource Group. Identify yourself, or we will open fire." The shout from the radio caused all in the cabin to jerk at the sudden sound.

Nichol was about to respond when Une stayed his hand and picked up the receiver instead. "I think that would be a very poor career move for you Captain. Firing on a superior OZ officer is heavily frowned upon by his Excellency."

Pause filled the air.

"Colonel, did you relay my request to his Excellency?" The Operations director's voice came over sounding more annoyed than threatened.

Une frowned at the man's disregard of her presence. "I'm here to determine if your cargo indeed warrants his Excellencies attention. He is not at the beck and call of every solider that thinks they're special."

Pause again filled the line.

"Understood Colonel Une, I'd suggest Prepping your suits for take off. ETA to your position: 20 minutes."

Une frowned at the mans direction, "Why would we need to meet you in our Mobile Suits. Is the cargo not in your hanger?" she heard a chuckle on the other end of the line.

"You'll see when you get here. Over and out."

Une looked down at the transmitter with dismay. Who the hell did this man think he was talking to a Colonel like that? She considered shooting the man in the knee on principal alone. Looking out the windows of the Escort Shuttles cabin her eyes caught something in the darkness. It was... blinking.

Was that the Mining Rig?

She didn't think Rig beacons could be seen that far. Maybe it was some kind of safety feature put on them should they lose power and need emergency pick up. Though she wondered who would be able to answer the call quickly enough in the vastness of space.

As the minutes dragged on she watched the blinking light get closer, seeming to be brighter as well.

Feeling a strange sense of urgency she instructed her two officers to suit up and warm up their Mechs.

The three made their way to the airlock and maneuvered along the escort shuttles hull to the waiting cockpits of their Taurus Mobile Suits. With the hatch closed the interior glowed to life spinning all vital drives to speed and activating all long range sensors. Blasting the Suit clear of the escort, she opened the throttle and rocketed toward the now glowing anomaly that seemed to be dragging behind the windmill looking Rig.

Throttling back a little she keyed in the suits configuration from flight to combat mode. In the blink of an eye the black and red machine transformed without changing course. Looking to her right and left she soon found the other two officers flanking her with the other three Dolls in defensive positions around the squad.

"Keep your eyes sharp Lieutenant, apparently our cargo is 'Top Secret'" she said in a mocking tone. Nichol smiled at his superior's humor. He understood why she seemed skeptical. Calling an officer away from a war to show and tell and pull guard duty was hardly becoming of a member of OZ.

All six Suits sounded a proximity warning.

Une zoomed in her focus to see a formation of Space Leo's proceeding the Rig.

She opened a Channel, "This is Colonel Une in charge OZ Space Force: confirm and acknowledge."

"This is Operation's Director Captain Von. Identification confirmed and acknowledged."

Une watched as the Leo's lowered their weapons. She smirked, "So we finally meet Captain, let's see what it is that's so damn important."

She watched as the lead of the formation turned and moved to the strange glowing object at the back of the windmill like Mining Rig. "Follow me Colonel, but I'm going to have to ask that your men stay here."

Une frowned a bit, but figured it was one more reason to shoot him should this be not worth the trip.

"As you wish, Captain." With that she opened the throttle on her Taurus, catching up with the Leo in no time.

As they passed the Rig and came to the glowing light attached to a large dark shadow she notice her sensor panel go dead. Her face crumpling into a frown, her unspoken question was soon answered by the insubordinate Captain. "It happens once we get in so many meter of it. All scanning equipment just goes dead."

"Have you inspected it for radar jamming equipment?" she asked.

There was a pause in waiting for her reply.

"To be honest Colonel, we're kinda scared to touch it."

Her eyes narrowed at the man's words. "Why?"

Instead of answering, he gave an order, "Hit the lights Pier!" Une was about to chastised the Captain for ignoring her when the flood lamps snapped on the dark object.

Her rebuke died on her lips.

Before her arms spread to the sides and feet together was a monster. Eyes wide she drank in the form of the purple behemoth with the strange spinning red device before it. Colossal didn't even begin to describe it! No Mobile Suit this size existed, let alone the organic design. No thrusters, no visible entrance to the cock pit. One of the hands of the beast looked big enough to palm a Leo.

And the face.

Red slashes crossed the dark eye sockets while a horn with a green band jutted proudly from its forehead. Instead of being off, she got the impression that it was more asleep!

As if it would just suddenly awaken, and would come to life.

Realizing what she just thought, she now understood why the Miners were afraid. Examining it more carefully, she noted, the armor around the upper abdomen seemed torn away in its wake leaving an exposed sphere with almost gem like quality and luster. Everything about this thing commanded respect. Not to do so seemed to invite disaster. After a moment she found all she could do was stare at it.

_**Th-Thump.**_

Lady Une blinked several times to clear her head of the sudden disorientation.

"Another reason we don't go near it. Happens to some members of the crew, but not all. We don't know if it some kind of radar ping system its sends out or some kind of warning." The Captain took a minute to consider his own words.

Une again scanned the visage of the monolithic Suit, "I owe your an apology, Captain. I'll send word to his Excellency to come immediately. Also you'll have fortress barge sent to escort you and your 'cargo' to colony 188."

"No apology needed, Colonel. I was skeptical when we first found it." On the inside he was smiling at his small victory over a higher rank officer.

"I'll make arrangements with in the hour. His Excellency shall reward your for your caution in this matter."

"Thank you, Colonel Une."

With that the lights were turned off shrouding the monster in its eerie glowing flame. The Captains Space Leo rocketed off leaving Lady Une to follow.

She was about to throttle up and go when she felt it again.

_**Th-Thump.**_

The sound pierced her very mind.

_**Th-Thump.**_

Turning her Suit in the direction of the dark giant she watched it intently as its blue flame swaggered and rolled.

_**Th-Thump. Th-Thump.**_

Une felt her breath quicken. Flying closer to the beast she halted a mere two meters before its ominous head. Not sure as to why she felt the sudden need to touch it. Pulling at the fibber of her very being, she soon gave into the impulse and opened the hatch. What little oxygen that was in the cabin rushed out in a mist for a second.

Silence permeated the cock-pit as she undid the five point harness and pushed herself out of the seat.

In the blackness of space the armor seemed to suck in the darkness. It's own flaming light seeming to give nothing away. Floating before the beast she reached out a hand to touch its armored head.

An inch from it her hand stopped.

What was she afraid of? She was second in command to the most powerful man in the world. Her piloting skills were second only to Trieze and his treasonous Lightning Count.

Taking a breath that sounded hollow in her helmet she reached out once more, her hand hovering just above the metal that made up the nose.

With a soft thrust of her hand her fingertips grazed the metal.

_Who are you? _A girl with blue hair shrouded in darkness with red glowing eyes whispers.

_Who are you? _Red hair and bandages with a red vinyl suit growled at her.

_Who are you? _A soft motherly woman in a white coat asks.

_Who are you? _A boy with sad blue eyes.

Snatching her had away Lady Une watched in dismay as the blue flame that flickered about the beast sucked in and enveloped her in darkness.

She kept absolutely still.

To her horror the eyes of the monster flashed to life in brilliant white light.

They stared at her, probing her soul, feeling everything that was her with its unforgiving sight. The eyes narrowed and winked out.

Desperately she propelled herself back to the Taurus and closed the hatch. Frantically snapping her harness back on, she quickly booted up the Mech's OS.

The beast had still not moved and its eyes did not shine.

Breath still panicked, she opened the throttle and sped her machine back to the escort.

* * *

"You alright Colonel Une?" Nichol asked as he caught sight of the almost hyperventilating woman. A heavy sheen of sweat ran down her face while she held a hand over her chest like a heart attack victim.

Seeing her obvious state of distress he began to wonder if her deep space sickness was getting worse.

"Do you need me to call a doctor?" he tried asking before he called in a straight jacket. With a shake of her head she grabbed a kerchief from her uniform locker and whipped her face.

Closing her eyes she took several deep breaths before falling back into a healthy rhythm.

Feeling that she was composed her eyes hardened. "Get me a direct line to his Excellency via Fortress Barge."

Nichol, snapped into a salute, "Ma'am!"

* * *

"Your certain you can't manage this without me?" Lady Une was getting frustrated with her Superior. "Sir, I would not call you if I did not think this required your immediate attention."

Treize sighed and looked back to the monitor that seemed to fuzz in and out of clarity, " Can you at least tell me what it is that I need to see?" Une felt the Captains words for security come back to her, but she needed him to believe her right now.

Throwing caution to the wind she swallowed, "It a Mobile Suit sir..." Treize was looking to a glove he was straightening. " A Gundam?" he said almost casually.

"No, sir. Its bigger."

He stopped straightening his glove. He turned to the monitor. "What is it then lady Une?" he said sounding curious.

"We don't know sir, the markings on its shoulder designate it EVA-01. We're running a check on that as we speak."

"EVA-01... Tell me lady Une, what does it look like?" Treize laced his hands as he watched her look away and frown a bit.

She sorted through her mind as she thought about it size and purple armor, but her mind kept going back to those eyes: angry eyes the could see through every thing.

"It looks like...a monster..." Treize frowned at his viably shaken second-in-command. She barley flinched at a Gundam. What could possibly terrify her so?

"Very well, Lady Une. I'll make arrangements. Keep me posted." The monitor signed off.

* * *

"EVA-01. huh?" Dr. J cackled a bit at the poorly coded transmission he'd intercepted. Really, OZ must be getting careless or desperate to bounce a signal without re-encrypting it.

The monitor was the soul light in his dark laboratory

"Looks like I've got a little digging to do." Swiveling in his chair he plugged the prosthetic arms into his tower and began work on finding anything about this 'Monster' as they called it.

EVA... Why did that sound so familiar?

* * *

Trowa Barton, carefully placed the panel for the communications-feed back in its rail and tightened the bolts so that no one would suspect the tampering. Adjusting his OZ uniform he looked down both ends of the hall to ensure that no one would question his being in sensitive area's.

A new type of Mobile Suit found in deep space?

His orders were to secure anything having to do with new OZ technology. Without his Gundam, he'd need something to fight with.

He rounded the corner as he thought of the best way to get access to the escort team for this EVA.

* * *

Wufie floated weightless with his arms folded while the transmission played out. Treize was going to see this thing. A perfect opportunity to even up the score. He'd be waiting for them on colony 188. No matter what this EVA was he'd destroy it and Treize.

* * *

Quatra, looked at the now empty feed. A towel draped his shoulders while a steaming cup of broth sat warming his hands.

"A new type of Mobile Suit?" He looked over at the control panel that his sister was currently typing away at while ordering parts over the phone.

The blue print of Wing Zero flashed across the screen as his sister fished for the necessary components.

"If it's not that, then what?" His intuition telling him something very wrong lurked in the blackness they had found.

* * *

Hiiro walked away from the terminal.

The rules were simple, without orders he couldn't act.

And so he awaited for his orders.

* * *

Duo snored on as the 'Incoming Message' beeped away on his Gundams console.

* * *

A/N: I seemed to have come across something Interesting with Lady Une here. I was going to use her more as just a bit character in this at first but I've had so much fun writing her I think she might stick around for a bit. In the end there I kinda had to scramble to put Duo in cause I forgot him, but not to worry I'll be making up for that in the next chapter.

I'm going to try to get most of the Wing cast in here but they may show up diffrently than some of you expect. This also diverges from the Normal wing time-line due to the fact that Lady Une isn't there to over see the Gundam man hunt. That being said I don't want to hear how this isn't faithful to the original plot, Butterfly wings and all that.

Stay tuned for the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Pandora

Chapter 2

Lady Une gasped.

Tearing herself free from the zero-G sleeping restraint, she pushed away from the wall to let herself drift to the center of the dark cabin. Clad only in a black sports bra and bicycle shorts she tucked herself into a fetal ball. Her breaths came in shudders as the droplets of sweat cooled on her skin while a few floated away.

She took a deep breath to calm herself.

It didn't work.

She could still see the eyes.

The beast staring into the very back of her soul. It was displeased with what it saw.

Lady Une didn't think herself a good person; she just saw the things she did as a necessary evil. The gaze of the slumbering giant had made her rethink all of that. Everything she had done in her life had been laid bare: from scraping her knee when she was two, the botched assassination of the Dorlan daughter, to tricking the Gundams to killing the Alliance leaders.

It saw everything.

She took a breath.

Glancing around the dim cabin with the only light coming from a glowing exit sign leading up to the command module.

Her two officers slept soundly in their restraints looking none the worse for the wear while she suffered even in her sleep. She gazed at the eerily green glowing sign bathing her in its unholy light. The color mixed with her anxiety twisted her stomach.

She stared at the sign before she swam back to her restraint to collect her glasses. Touching her feet off the wall she silently lunged herself to the module door. Unlatching the door she swung through to float among the dark room with only the faint glow of instrument panels and a field of stars beyond.

Sound in the module seemed to be muffled like cotton, making her feel the ship was asleep as well.

_Glowing eyes._

She shuddered at the thought of sleeping things; afraid they might wake.

The earth hid most of the sun in its shadow, making it look to be some strange sea creature with flaming tentacles reaching in every direction. In a few minutes the fiery orb that was our star would again push the earth from its sight to look upon the escort shuttle and the Mining Rig.

Using one of the four seats as a handhold the brown haired Colonel looked out the large window. The earth still seemed small from this distance, they'd been on their way for about two days, but the rig and its cargo slowed the return time considerably. What had taken the shuttle three days would now take four to get back with the Rig.

She peered at the earth, around it she could make out the white specks with their blinking lights that gave the tale tell signs of colonies. Colonies, what right did they think they had to be treated as equals to those who dwell on solid ground? Cheap imitations of the real thing, and even then were fragile to the point that the smallest amount of damage would be catastrophic. The people who lived on them had trouble with low birth rates that were supplemented by surrogate mothers, they consumed more resources then they shelled out. To make it worse they had the audacity to make the Gundams and claim innocence.

She had to admit, though, the Gundams truly were a work of art.

While no one excelled in a rounded battle-the aspects they were broke up into were the mightiest of their fields. Oh, how she wished she could capture the minds behind such beautiful death machines, she would force them to build her and his Excellency armors that even the gods of old would be jealous of.

She shook her head at that thought.

Gods?

Where had that come from?

If there were gods, the only one that truly existed was a god of War. For no matter what, the drive to destroy was at the very core of man. What was it that drove the human race to these lengths?

_Loneliness._

A girl in a white suit with veins bulging looked at the tears that fell to her lap.

Lady Une's nails dug into the fabric of the chair. Turning her head to the far end of the cabin she spotted a pair of red glowing eyes with a shock of blue hair framing in the dark figure that stood in the corner.

Wait! Stood?

Indeed the figures feet rested against the floor of the gravity less cabin.

The Colonel's eyes widened and teeth ground as she looked at the intruder. Military logic screamed in her brain to alert the others and detain the stow-away, but an instinctual part of her knew this was no mere girl.

She also couldn't find her voice.

The girl seemed to be extremely young, in her mid teens at best. She was naked, covered in nothing but her birthday suit. If she felt shame it never showed. Everything about the girls demeanor seemed to shout a detached confidence or disregard that frightened Lady Une. _Almost animal like she thought to herself. _

The eyes.

The blood red eyes. Was she albino?

She couldn't tell, but the way they looked at her brought unflinching and piercing-memories of the behemoth out in the vacuum just beyond.

"What are you...?" Finding her voice.

The specters eyes narrowed _ I am me, but not m., I am no more, but here._

Whispers were the only way to describe the voice, but even the soft words seemed to lance through the quiet of the command module. Or was it her mind?

The two stared at one another, one impassive the other on the verge of mental breakdown. Swallowing Une tried to ask another question, but the words again would not form.

The red eyes narrowed once more. _ You are lonely..._

A boy curled under a dark stairwell.

_You wish to be one with him, but your fear rejection..._

A red headed girl in a yellow shirt pushing someone over.

_So you deceive your self that you need nothing and try hide the loneliness..._

A blond woman lighting a cigarette.

_Because you won't open your heart. It is breaking, causing you to hurt others..._

A woman in a red jacket hauls a boy off a bench to scream at him.

_Making you alone._

A man with dark glasses at a desk with his hands folded.

For a brief second Lady Une swore she saw the red eyes become very sad. The girl spoke once more.

_This loneliness will kill you._

A boy screamed.

An arm clad in red split in half.

The blond woman fell into an orange lake.

The woman in a red jacket crumpled into a pool of her blood.

The dark man looked into the eyes of the monster as it opened its mouth.

Lady Une clamped her eyes shut at the words that rang horribly true. She could feel her heart pounding.

The blood rushed in her ears.

_Open your heart. _

That wasn't the girls voice?

Snapping her eyes open she looked up to see the reason the voice changed.

Fading away was image a boy in a white shirt and black slacks. A boy with messy brown hair and sad blue eyes. He was smiling.

The corner was dark.

No sound but her own breathing could be heard.

Une gripped the chair for dear life. Minutes passed.

After almost an hour, she began to sob.

Her tears floated about the cabin brought to life as sparkling gems as the sun cast its amber glow signaling it was free of the earths shadow.

Caught in the shadow of the Mining Rig, EVA-01 remained dark.

* * *

Zechs Merquies sat quietly in the dark.

His mind was clear.

Thinking of nothing he focused on the emptiness around him.

Except it wasn't empty.

He could here the slight rattle of the vent as it blew cool air into his cell while a group of people somewhere in on the base was playing poker. One just folded after another man raised.

He could here them all through the vent.

Strangely he found the noise from the unseen men intrusive, almost a kind of indirect torturer or barging into his solitude. He liked the quiet, quiet meant he could think, plan, understand.

But some asshole just wouldn't shut up about whomever the hell Steve was bluffing or Grant having cards up his sleeve.

As he felt his anger rise from the squabbling vent he soon heard another set of noises coming just from his left.

The hallway. His eyes narrowed

Foot steps. At least three pair.

Two of them almost seemed to be in time like a march, the third pair was much more relaxed. Casual.

_Treize._

There was a curt knock on the steel door then a flood of light causing the masked man to squint a bit at the sudden change of ambiance.

"Hope they've been treating you well Lightning Count." Zechs wasn't sure if he should be annoyed or laughing at the smug tone of his long time comrade.

"Tell them to fix the vent and I'll feel right at home." This earned a chuckle from the guards who even now could not think of their hero as a prisoner let alone a traitor.

Treize walked into the cramped room blocking some of the light much to Zechs relief. "So is it time? Am I to greet my final judgment?" he looked down to the floor. Despite his resolutions, he still felt he was betraying his friend. Even after he was ready to bite the bullet he felt a foul taste in his mouth at having to be the Judas to a man that would have likely set him free if he asked.

"Actually, I'm here for another reason."

Zechs blinked.

"Do you know of the OZ 3rd Resource Group?" Treize smiled at his friend's reaction.

Frowning a bit Zechs searched his memory, "They're a deeps space mining division, they supply the hydrogen for Vernier fuel and precious metals to build Mobile suit electrical components." Unseen under his mask, his brow knit.

"What does this have to do with me?" Zechs watched astonished as Treize waved the two guards to leave them. The OZ leader watched them from the corner of his eye he waited till they rounded the junction to the brig. Once certain they were gone he turned to the Lighting Count.

"A week ago they found something in No Mans Land." He turned to face Zechs more. "Lady Une went ahead a few days ago to confirm what they had found."

"What did they find?" knowing the answer was coming but still felt the need to ask with his curiosity peaked.

"A giant Mobile Suit."

"A Gundam?"

"No. Something else; something much bigger. Lady Une described it as...a monster."

The platinum haired man frowned at the last word.

Zechs took a moment to absorb this information. After a moment the Mobile Suit pilot looked up at his commander, "Why are you telling me this?"

Treize couldn't suppress his grin, "I'm scheduled to rendezvous at colony 188 to see this 'Monster'..."

Zechs knew what was coming, "I want you to accompany me," the colonel's voice rolled from his mouth like some kind of audible sweet.

Zechs bit back some nausea at his friends tone.

The air hung heavy between the two men. The minutes seemed to tick by in the suspended moment.

"What about the court Martial? What about sentencing?"

Zechs bowed his head. "I know, you understand what I did, but Roma feller-"

"Has no say in OZ matters." A small amount of annoyance at his subordinates tirade leaked out, but he quickly reigned it in. "For right now I'm keeping the Axe man at bay."

Treize watched the masked man frown. "Am I supposed to thank you...?"

"No."

Again Zechs blinked.

"This is for my own sake. I know you better than to skirt your shoulder of a burden or blame." The OZ leader and mastermind sighed inwardly, god knows he tried to get his long time friend to let go of his pain.

But some people were just too in love with their own suffering.

Zechs sighed, "When do we leave?"

"With in the hour."

Zechs frowned and eyed the man suspiciously, "You waited till the last minute knowing I might refuse?" _Or was it he knew I wouldn't?_

The traitorous Colonel struggled to decided if he should be offended or not at Treize's presumptuous manner.

Colonel Treize Kushranada's smile was his only response to the masked pilot.

* * *

He looked back and forth down the dark corridor.

Little good that did. It was dark! What the fuck was he gonna see!

Feeling his way along the wall he came to the only open door in the long hall. He took a quick sniff of the air to have his sense over run by hydraulic fluid, burnt metal and Vernier fuel.

Jackpot.

He felt something cold and hard press against the back of his head.

"Man, will I ever get the drop on you?" He sighed.

The gun was pulled from his head, "You need to bring in you Gundam for a complete overhaul. You've been hard on the Death-Scythe," Professor G said in his ever pissed tone.

Duo glared at the man which to his irritation did no damn good in a dark hall in an abandoned outer ring of the colonies interior.

"Hey, it's not like OZ or the alliance has been playing nice, and the Gundam works just fine."

He heard the scientist 'humph' dramatically just ahead of him, "You and the others seem to have forgotten the concept of dodging in coming fire, and with as many engagements as you've been in you've done 'twice' the number of sustained combat runs a normal suit dose before it needs a tune up!"

The lights flickered to life in the large construction bay.

Random parts and unfinished Mech arms and thrusters laid scattered about the bay almost looking to be a bone yard or a strange art show.

Duo shrugged at the man statement, "It's a Gundam, It can take the wear and tear." the pilot folded his arms sagely.

"Idiot!" Duo jumped at the other mans tone.

"The armor might be Gundanium, but the mechanical components are steel and titanium!" The wild haired professor moved from his computer to an industrial control panel filled with levers and switches.

"The fact that your Suits have Gundanium should be all more reason to service the Machine as often as possible!" The gray haired scientist slammed a lever down on the panel. The result was a klaxon sounding for a moment then the far construction scaffold swinging open its gang planks to clear an opening.

"And what about a space booster refit? Planning on fighting with no orientation thrusters?" The Professor turned back to glare at the young pilot.

Duo looked around as he realized his would be critical mistake. He grimaced at the thought of what the battle between the space built Taurus and and ill prepared Death-Scythe would have ended like.

The older man snorted at seeing the error dawn on the pilot, "Damn kids think these things are invincible, I can only image what the bore on the Vulcan canons look like after all you've done."

Shaking himself free of his musing he glared at the Professor. "Hey! I've been taking care of it all along, and Howard's kept the thing in spotless condition!"

The old man reached into his lab coat, pulling a remote free. Without turning he pointed the remote to the screen and pressed a button.

Duo blanched at the images of his Gundam taking round after round hit after hit in their stunt to get attention and make a break for outer space. A particularly nasty blast rocked the Gundam off its feet.

The Screen paused on that image.

Duo looked back to the Scientist with a nervous chuckle.

"I could breathe on the damn thing and it'd probably fall apart right now!"

With that the man hunched back over the controls leaving the Gundam pilot to thinking about the horror he could have brought on himself.

"Did you get the message?" Duo blinked.

After a moment he figured out what the man was talking about, "Yeah, some kinda Mobile Suit they found in the black." He looked at the professors back while he continued to work. "Something you lost back in the day?"

"No."

The man kept working. Duo was going to ask what he knew, but the Professor went on, "They found something that should have been left where it was..."

Professor G turned his attention away from the instrument panel and looked to the space before him, reliving some kind of memory.

"What is it...?" Duo asked the man who stood lost in thought.

To Duo's surprise the man looked back with an almost sad expression before returning to his work.

The sound of the equipment moving behind them filled the dead air.

"Something that all of man kind was punished for... long ago..." The professor sighed, seeming to deflate the man's shoulders.

"Duo... you must destroy this thing-even at the cost of sacrificing the Death-Scythe." Professor G turned to the pilot meeting him with a hard gaze.

"If this thing is not destroyed... their maybe nothing left to fight for..." His words seemed to echo off the bay.

Duo looked at the man in confusion. Sacrifice the Death-Scythe?

What was this thing?

"Bring the Death-Scythe around to service entrance two." the pony tailed boy jumped at the man who was now working again. "Most of OZ has been pulled for guard duty on that 'thing' so you should have no trouble with being unseen."

Duo smirked at the comment. Being unseen was his specialty.

With that he stuffed his hands in his pockets and made his way out of the hanger.

* * *

Lucrezia Noin felt like shit. She rolled on to her stomach causing her head to spin with her stomach.

She fought the feeling to empty her ballast knowing any sudden movement would be a critical systems loss to her head. The prospect of lying in your own puke wasn't too great either.

So where did that leave her?

Status: Awaiting Rescue and Recovery.

ETA: When her fucking head didn't hurt.

All the efforts to help the man she loved ended up a pitiful waste. Holding back in the academy so he could get command first, Helping him take down the alliance base to free his homeland to have him sulk in the end. To ad insult to injury he had her play babysitter to an overly idealistic ditz of a sister.

All of that ending with some retarded pissing contest in the snow with a fifteen year old kid who had a better toy.

This led her to the tactical decision to put some serious octane in her fuel tank. Wild Turkey and an American drink of some kind. She found it in the pantry of the officer's mess.

And man did that stuff burn. Americans must be some kind of masochists

Laying on her stomach with her face buried in her pillow she looked around her room with an open eye to do a cursory damage report of her residents.

Computer screen was broke. Vase was shattered; flowers from vase were trampled. Picture frame had a bullet hole in it; some plastic bits looked like her phone. Hmmm, damage report was not looking good, though the fact that the walls were still standing was a plus.

Here she was, lying in the shambles that was her career, or was it her room? A branded traitor amongst her peers, waiting on a man with more hang ups than a sexist Chinese kid with a big robot, unable to go to space due to circumstances of world domination, and likely to be fired and executed.

There was a knock on her door.

Her eyes started searching around for her gun.

Not seeing it she opted to ignore the door and hope the person on the other side went away. They could wait to demote her for a couple of hours.

She heard a brief commotion through the door. Finally, the electronic lock beeped green allowing the door to slide to the side, "Your Excellency! We don't know if it's safe in there!"

"Last night we heard gun fire in there!" The owner of the voice was babbling.

"And you didn't think to check on the Lieutenant Colonel?" This one was smooth, the kind of voice that made her tingle in a special way.

"Well... at first we were going to send a team, but then we heard more shots." the guy need to put some confidence into his speech, Christ, sounded like he was going to mess his pants.

"She's done this a couple times before... so after the first three shots... we knew it was safer to just leave her alone."

"I see." That voice was sexy, where had she heard it before? And what the hell were they talking about?

Some crazy broad let loose on the base? She glanced to the picture frame and frowned internally, then looked to the floor to see shell casings spread across the carpet.

This was not looking good.

Someone of some rank was at her door, shells and wrecked barracks were everywhere, and she didn't even feel the need to pretend to care.

Yep, her career was over.

For a long few seconds that seemed like hours she waited face down on her bed for the people to make them selves know. "Did we come at a bad time Lieutenant Colonel Noin?" Something about that voice, where had she heard it?

Sighing inwardly she forced her face away from the pillow to see two people in uniform, one was blue and the other was...red?

Systems: Emergency boot up, confirm target.

Target confirmed.

Systems: Analyzing Mobile suit type.

Type confirmed! It's an officer!

Systems: Identify Officer.

Officer Identified: Colonel Treize!

Eyes widening, Noin threw herself from the bed and staggered from the floor into a hasty salute. She was only able to hold it for a moment though as she felt her head spin and the contents of her stomach lurch.

With speed born of desperation she lunged for the bathroom.

Systems: Master alarm! Emergency landing! Call it in! Mayday! Mayday!

She made it to the toilet just in time.

After two juicy heaves she rested her head against the porcelain of the bowel. Facing the entry way she was able to make out the blurry forms of the Colonel and someone in red.

Who wore red?

That wasn't a regulation color.

As the Mobile Suit cockpit of her mind tried to reboot she began to remember only one person ever wore a red uniform.

_Ah, shit._

"Never were good at drinking hard liquor." She heard her old heart throb say.

Before she could enable her mouth filter she let the first words to mind fly: "What's the matter? Jealous you didn't get to hold my hair back like I did for you?"

Damn, she knew she was fired.

She could hear Treize cough in his throat to grab her attention, "Lieutenant Noin, we need you dressed and ready in fifteen minutes." That said he left the small lavatory.

_Dressed? Wasn't she in uniform last night?_

Looking down at the state of her attire she found herself staring at only a pair of uniform pants and her free bosom.

She had just unknowingly flashed Treize Kushranada and Millardo PeaceCraft.

Looking over she saw someone re-enter the bathroom. Zechs, hung up a fresh uniform from a hook on the wall before giving her a little smirk. Once he left she began to lightly bang her head against the toilet bowel.

She wanted to know why he was free, had Treize absolved him of charges? Where were they going? In the end she simply complied by taking a quick shower and throwing her uniform on. Finishing the buttoning of her parade jacket her senses were soon assaulted by a cup of black coffee being thrust just beneath her nose. Without a second glance she took said cup and down the scolding liquid in seconds, to her surprise when she took the first cup from her face she found another waiting for her.

This time she took note of the arm the cup was attached to.

Looking up the length of the Jacket she soon discovered the masked man with a humored smirk on his face. Scowling a bit, she took the cup from the man who turned away with what sounded like a chuckle.

"It's time." She turned to the blue suited Colonel who was now walking out the door of her barracks and heading down the hall. Zechs followed and she soon was in tow.

Sipping on the coffee she noticed that there were no guards, and the two men seemed to carry themselves differently than she'd expected for a tribunal. She looked down to see that Zechs hands weren't in shackles. Finally taking notice of where they were she spotted the end of the hall soaked in bright light leading out to the tarmac.

Hundreds of questions raced through her addled mind, but found no place that would be good to begin. Coming to the end of the hall Noin was surprised to see a personal jet waiting for them with a pair of Aries as escort.

Finally one question stood out above the rest. "Where are we going?" she asked Zechs just a foot fall ahead of her. But it was Treize that answered.

"Space."

With mouth a gape she watched as the man boarded the plane with Zechs just behind him. As her Lightning Count reached the top of the steps he looked back to see her still standing at the foot of the ramp. Smiling a bit he extended his hand to the shocked pilot.

She looked at his gloved hand for a moment.

After all he put her through, making her worry, betray her comrades, and think that she was to follow his fate in dishonor, he offered his hand.

She frowned at the gesture.

To accept his hand now was to forgive all the shit he had put her through the last six months.

Could she so easily do that?

_Damn it._

She took the hand firmly and with a quick pull they were both in the cabin. With the foot ramp closed the engines roared to speed as the pilots began to taxi it on to the runway.

Unknown to either Mobile Suit pilot, Treize hand watched the exchange from his window seat.

He was smiling.

* * *

_What the hell was this thing?_ The crippled Gundam scientist typed furiously at his console trying vainly to decrypt and reconstruct corrupt data well over a century old. The best he was getting were garbled notes that seemed to make no sense while the rest were out dated lines of code that held strange pictures, ranging from slides of cell samples to blurry images of purple, blue, and red Mobile Suits in battle with even stranger looking Mobile Suits that seemed to have no reason or rhyme to there design other than some red sphere.

To make the icing on the bitter cake worse was the fact that all of it seemed to be in half dead languages, old German, ancient Japanese, even some of the English slang from the west. Whatever this thing was it was global at one point, even more startling is some how they managed to get one into space! Even now the technology to get something of that mass in orbit was near impossible.

But here they were towing it back form the depths of the black.

Scrolling through more he was able to make out something about a place called the U.N. Seeming to launch some kind of attack but it failing. Then something else called NERV picking up the operation.

After that the data was corrupted or scrambled in Encryption. It wasn't that it was hard to crack the security measures, it was just the code was so old that the scientist couldn't make heads or tales of what he was reading. All this and not one legible date could be found, some of the files were re conscripted so the date for them was much to recent or the language barrier on some prevented them from being read, while even more had the date straight up blacked out.

If the gray haired man still had eyes he was sure they'd hurt right now. As it was, all he could do was be annoyed.

Sighing he clicked back to the mangled photo's. Clicking through lazily, he let the light from the monitor change in brightness according to the image and flash across his false eyes.

He stopped at one that looked a bit out of place in a grab bag of old Top Secret photos. The photo had four people in it, a raven haired Japanese woman with a white cross hanging from her neck and a red jacket. She was holding an uncomfortable looking boy who stood in some strange skin tight suit that was blue and white flanking either side of the woman and boy were two teen girls wearing a similar suit with different colors. The one to the the right was a Caucasian girl with bright red hair and a suit to match, she stood proud in an almost superhero pose. Left was another girl almost the polar opposite with a heavy albino tinge and a stoic demeanor that brought to mind his brooding Gundam pilot.

Behind them in the image was what appeared to be a smoldering crater while men in orange jump suits littered the sides of the crater with cranes even farther in the distance.

Why were a bunch of kids in what looked to be some kind of vinyl suit next to what looked to be some horrible accident or crash? Stranger yet was the only one that seemed bothered was the boy and even that looked more like it was from the proximity of the woman holding him.

He was about to move on to the next image when he noticed something at the bottom right of the image.

It was a time stamp.

Zooming in on the fuzzy red digits he blew them up and typed in several commands trying to sharpen the numbers.

Slowly he filter brought the lines and colors tighter as it made its way to the bottom leaving the numbers to beheld.

03-11-2015

If the Doctor could blink he would have. Most of the files he'd been going through suggested or had at least been formated about a century ago, if the time stamp was to be believed that would make the Mobile Suit OZ was towing almost 300 years old!

Doctor J leaned back and stroked his beard letting the revelation wash over him. Up till about a fifty years ago the Mobile Suit was a flight of fantasy, something to be read about in comics and played as cartoons on TV. Clicking back the image to its original size he stared at the four people in it hoping they would give some further clue.

The figures did not disappoint.

Zooming in on the chest of each of the children he noted that they each had a number on them going from zero to two. On closer inspection of the woman he noticed the old major bars pinned to the lapels of her coat.

Simple deduction brought by the same symbol adoring the woman Major and the clean up crew behind the four that this was indeed some kind of military group. Why kids though?

The Doctor chewed on his lip as he realized that he himself had trained a pilot at almost if not the exact same age as the ones in the picture. This made that old man frown as he thought about how little thing seemed to change, even in 300 years.

Filing what he learned from the picture away he proceeded on to the next image.

He stopped at this image.

A white cylinder jutted from the back of the purple Mobile Suit while more orange suited techs were placing the timid boy he'd seen in the previous picture on a stretcher with blood running from his nose. This confirmed his suspicion of the children being pilots, but more importantly it showed how to get into the Suits cockpit.

Quickly the old mans good hand went to work putting together a mission brief.

This was too interesting to shrug off, he'd need Hiiro Yui to either collect as much data on this relic as possible or steal it.

The chatter of keys being struck went on late into the dark.

* * *

A/N: Once again, had a lot of fun writing Lady Une in this part, don't know what it is that allows her to interact so well with all this. As promised Duo got his debut part in this, even Professor G seems to get a little spot light time.

To the people that'll complain about the tech part of that, I lived around and know a lot of military personnel, having that experience has allowed me to know that every machine from lawn mowers chain saw and even weapons have to be serviced regularly and need to be over-hauled after a lot of abuse.

Noin's going to pop up a lot more. Why? You'll see. Again, I'm trying to get all the characters in here, but I don't think its necessary to have them all in 'every' chapter. As for the dates in this, I looked all over and couldn't find where the hell A.C. Should take place in history, that said I'm using these dates as part of the plot. For the people that don't believe that language or documents could go that bad in 300 years, try reading something from the 1600s. Even in English you'll be scratching your head for most of it.

Till next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Pandora

Chapter 3

The sun slipped behind the earth leaving only a narrow band of light shining through the atmosphere. It held on till the earth cut the lights grasp sinking all things in its shadow.

Only the running lights of colony 188 shone as the OZ 3rd Resource Group Mining Rig made its final approach.

Space Fortress Barge followed in the wake of the Mining Rig while an orbit of Leo's and Taurus Suits made a defense ring around the Rig and its cargo.

Ensign Trowa Barton, of OZ Space Force beheld the monstrous behemoth with calculating eyes. He was surprised at its shear size, standing almost as tall as the barge its self and its arms spread easy enough to grasp both sides of the mobile OZ Space Defense Head Quarters. His eyes narrowed at the strange red spinning rod before the Mobile Suit. The lights of the nearing colony glimmered like a pair of diamonds skating across the rod to each end before vanishing and starting a new.

As for what it looked like…

He had a hard time seeing anything of the monolith; the light seemed just out of reach veiling it in darkness. Of what he could see of it was small traces of bright green and what might have been purple. There seemed to be a horn jutting from what he guessed was the head while the back seemed hunched over. The posture reminded him of an old Middle Eastern religion where their Prophet was martyred and hung from wood planks. Folding his arms he went to turn to find several OZ officers and enlisted at the doorway.

Had he been caught? Were they on to him?

Watching them walk forward he tensed his muscles, but didn't change his form knowing that it would give way his advantage. When the men were in arms length he loosened his grip on his arms ready to strike.

To have the men pass him and look out the same observation window he had. The Gundam Pilot blinked at this and turned to watch the men who gazed out in awe of the strange thing that had been found.

Orders across the ship were to keep eyes off the Suit, but everyone seemed drawn to it anyway. A sirens call from beyond itching at all the crew members minds. Trow had to admit he could almost hear the call, begging him to come. All in due time though, even 'he' couldn't sneak his way past almost 200 Mobile Suits.

With that he turned down the hall of the space fortress.

* * *

Noin couldn't contain her excitement. The rumble and shake of the shuttles cabin made all the more intense by the steep incline it took while forcing her and the other two occupants into their seats at 4gs. She looked out the window watching as the curve of the earths Blue Ocean came into contrast with increasingly black sky. The cabin shuddered and grew colder as they burst from the bubble that was our atmosphere.

The dark haired OZ officer couldn't help, but almost squeal with glee when the field of stars began to brighten into existence. The shudder of the cabin stopped and with it Noin felt the weight of her body soon held against the lap belt.

She was in Zero G.

This time the urge was too powerful and she unbuckled her safety belt. She floated from her seat using her hand to touch off the cabin ceiling to drift through the middle of the isle. It was amazing, absent was the feeling of acceleration that she felt in the simulator back in Africa and pure cushion and freedom of motion enveloped her. She felt as though the very life blood of the universe was flowing through her, replaced was the sensation of the weight of the world she'd a moment ago felt forcing her into he upholstery of the chair with absolute freedom.

A child like trill ran through her and with out a second thought did a somersault down the Isle.

"Well done Lieutenant." came a smooth voice with a light clap.

The proverbial record of Noin's mind scratched from the waltz it was playing. Or was it an old movie? Space Odds or something.

Whirling around to see the other two passengers looking at her with great interest she coughed and with light touches propelled herself back to where she was seated. Landing back in her seat she fastened the buckle with a quick pull and made direct eye contact with her lap. She was sure that Treize and Zechs were looking at her. No doubt the OZ lead-officer was smiling while the unseen arch of the masked Colonel eyebrow was at its peak.

Silence hung among the three.

Noin's eyebrow twitched. Was Zechs looking at her? Did he have the look of perplex-meant that she was sure he had? Her eye almost drifted involuntarily over to the man across the isle from her, but snapped it back lest she look foolish for doing wireless acrobatics. What if she was wrong? What if he was leaned back in his chair unconcerned at her childishness just moments ago? What if he regarded her about as much as a school bus driver cares about the kids that don't show at the stop?

She had to not give in, she had to trust that she knew everything the man next to her would do at a moments notice, she had to believe that she hadn't sacrificed all that she had worked for over the last five years for someone that would as soon shoot her as much as she wished to hand cuff her to the headboard of her bed.

_Damn it!_

She looked over at him.

She snapped her head back to looking at her lap as she sure enough saw that he was still looking at her with an unmistakable look of curiosity. This of course was hard to tell but was discernible through a dimple on his left cheek that sprung up when he frowned in like that. Noin Mentally kicked herself for looking, but felt relived that she was right.

The silence held on.

She looked out the window. It was beautiful; the glowing blue orb that was the Earth in all its magnificent glory. No photo could compare to being there, and looking on the very ground every human took for granted. The oceans were deep blue lakes while entire mountain ranges looked to be rough patches in a sand box or rock garden. Surrounding all that brilliance and majesty was the abyss of space, Krill in the form of stars spanned into forever, while the pockmarked child of the Earth known as the Moon was almost blinding in the radiance of the sun.

She could almost understand why the people of the space colonies never wanted to leave such a place.

_Why?_

The word had flashed through her consciousness for nanoseconds, but it soon sparked a Maelstrom of thought. With each churn of her mind one thought kept coming back. Looking to the two Colonels she assessed the situation.

One was reclined in his chair looking to be sleeping while the other had his arms folded in heavy thought; no doubt brooding. She weighed the pros and cons of waking her commanding officer; the head of OZ, but only received uncertain odds to what the outcome would be.

"What's on your mind, Lieutenant?" Noin almost swallowed her tongue at the sudden sound from the relaxed OZ mastermind. Had she spoke and not known it? Was she just that easy to read?

Even with his eyes closed?

Coughing a bit she recomposed herself. "Sir... What are we doing here?"

She watched as her Superior smiled with his eyes still closed, "We are here to see something that was found." Noin frowned at the reply. What could have been found that it requires the head of OZ to see it? A Gundam?

No, they would have broadcast its capture to draw out the others and made an example of the pilot. She frowned a bit at that thought thinking back to the two haunted young men she took to Antarctica.

The look in both their eyes. Like wolves without a pack, if such a thing could be compared. Perhaps it was more the feeling of pity that people so young were forced to fight such a war. Maybe it went even further looking back that in comparison that she and Zechs were only more than a handful of years ahead of the young pilots. What had happened over the last fifty years that had fashioned the youth of the day into the beasts of war they were?

Beasts.

It was hard to think of herself as an animal, but battle had proven that.

Pushing the thoughts away for the moment she focused. If it wasn't a Gundam, what would be something they had to keep a secret?

Not a Gundam, but a secret.

Secret they had to see.

New Mobile Suit.

But why did Trieze have to look at it? Wasn't that something that should be delegated to Lady Une? And speaking of where was she?

Thinking back before the haze of liquor and gun fire she was able to recall that the Right 'Fist' of OZ was currently on assignment to patch up the shit storm she'd caused with the Siberia incident several months back. Though it was possible that she was going to meet them where they were going to dock.

Wait.

He just said it had been 'found'.

That put a considerable hole in her theory of it being a new Suit. After all new Suits are made, not found.

The black haired Lieutenant Colonel frowned at this, "Your Excellency... if I might ask...what did they find?" She blinked at seeing Zechs contemplative frown shift into a scowl. Trieze smiled even more at the young woman's question, "I was told that it was some kind of monster."

Noin digested this cryptic and useless information. Monster? Like the thing that hides under your bed or makes villagers close up shop when the sun goes down?

She waited for him to continue.

With no further explanation coming she turned back toward the window. She stared into the blackness beyond thinking about all the strangeness that had happened since she woke up.

Then something flew by the window.

She would have jumped out of her seat at the sudden flash but was held secure by her lap belt. Pressing her nose to the window she was able to make out the black Taurus Suit with its thrusters burning blue.

"Shuttle-craft you are now entering a restricted flight zone. Identify yourself." the shuttles P.A. boomed in the empty cabin.

"This is Shuttle 101 foxtrot Zulu- Yellow Brick Road, en route to colony site 188, over." The shuttle pilot could be heard in the stillness of the cabin ahead.

"Roger that Yellow Brick Road. Assuming escort formation!" The P.A. Boomed one last time before going silent again.

Escorts? Angling back a bit in the seat she was able to see something in the distance.

She gaped.

It was the unfinished colony 188. Lazily floating near it was the can opener that was the Fortress Barge, and what seemed to be some kind of mine field. She didn't think any active space mines had been developed yet. Last she heard they had to be kept in a stable orbit due to the fuel constraints of having them move for combat.

They were kind of big for space mines.

No, wait.

Those weren't space mines. Those were Mobile Suits!

"My, God..." She stared in awe at the sheer number of active Suits patrolling up and down the surrounding of the colony, Leo's, Taurus's, even Mining Suits! It seemed almost to be some strange parade formation or poorly planned war game. They were all pointed away from the colony, bringing to mind a mechanical wasp nest with its soldiers on alert.

She spun around to look at the Supreme Commander of OZ.

His eyes were open and brow drawn.

He was all business.

What was all this?

What did they found out here?

* * *

"Your Excellency!" Lieutenant Nichol Saluted. Trieze gave a small nod before looking around and frowning,

"Where is Lady Une?" he asked. It wasn't like her to not greet him. He wasn't blind to her overtures, just indifferent. He was a solider and so was she - to let anything past that was to invite disaster among his carefully constructed ranks.

Even as something as harmless as affection.

He watched the long side-burned Lieutenant fidget from a moment before settling into a frown.

"Please follow me sir." and turned to walk down the hall. Trieze, as a young man, always considered himself a person of intuition, feeling that his instincts served him well through the years. When he got a strange tickle at the back of his neck he listened.

And did not like what it was saying to him now.

Trieze walked with Nichol leading with Zechs and Noin behind him. They wormed their way down a maze of hallways that led to a heavy pair of double doors with thick glass windows.

Med- Bay.

The doors opened with Nichol sliding his badge through the reader.

_**Th-Thump**_

A pair of red eyes in the darkness narrowed at Trieze.

_Commander... _ A man with dark glasses and a beard.

A girl's voice whispered.

Trieze shook his head of the feeling the strange wave that caused his vision to black.

_What was that?_

Opening his eyes again he saw the world was still bright and that the door to the Med-Bay was open and his subordinates were still behind him. He watched Nichol step inside then out of the way with his hand and attention directed to something in the room.

Trieze stepped in the dim lit room to see a heart monitor beeping steady at the far end with a single lamp on near a lump in a bed. The OZ commander turned to question the Lieutenant, but found the man's gaze directed at the floor it what looked like shame.

Walking soft in the quiet room to keep from breaking the almost reverend silence in the air he made his way to the edge of the bed. The curled up form under the sheets twitched. Almost upon the occupant he noted something just under the sound of the steady drone of the heart monitor.

Crying?

The figures back was to him shaking like a terrified child. Never moving his eyes from the person who lay prone he rounded the foot of the bed.

Trieze's eyes widened.

Laying before him was the once unflappable and bull headed Colonel Une.

She stared off to the distant wall, eyes puffy and red; her hands were clasped together, much like some desperate prayer.

Trieze knew that the Lieutenant was leading him to Lady Une, but this is not what he had expected. "Lieutenant, explain this." His words said level and clear of any anger, but the drawn brow spoke volumes for the OZ officer to be quick.

"We think," he began, "she's had some kind of sever episode of Space Sickness..."

Trieze's frown urged the man to continue.

"During the flight out to the Rig she exhibited some minor symptoms… but well with in safe limits." he blew out a tired breath and ran his hand over his stubble worn face, "On our return flight she was going through some jumpy moments and had trouble sleeping. Again signs, but nothing that was a real red flag." The OZ solider cast a sympathetic look to the curled woman.

"The third day in flight back we found her sleeping restraint empty and the hatch to the control module open."

Nichol swallowed, "I hurried to the control cabin thinking that she might have finally had an episode and was doing something suicidal while we slept..."

The air hung heavy while the monitor continued uninterrupted.

"When I found her...she was like this." he gestured lightly to her whimpering form. "She just floated there…crying, saying she was sorry." His tale told, he blew out another tired breath. The trip for this accursed thing aged him decades in mere days it appeared to Noin.

"We tried to wake her, but..." Nichol looked down.

The monitor beeped.

"Best we can diagnose is she's gone into a Catatonic state."

Zechs and Noin stood behind the Lieutenant not moving a muscle.

Noin could bring herself to reckon with the image of this frazzled crying lump of a human to the woman that ruthlessly killed men in cold blood, threatened the existence of an entire group of people, and backed a Gundam pilot into a corner to the point of self-destruct.

Then she just...broke?

Treize sighed.

He wanted to be angry, he needed to be angry, but this was no ones fault.

Another Joker that fate had dealt him, almost crippling his plan by half. Who would he get to replace her that he trusted? The Supreme Commander glanced at his two subordinates. They both had look of equal horror at the fallen woman. Both had parts to play in all this, to ask them to bare Lady Une's burden would be to rob them of the parts they must play on this stage.

Best laid plans he supposed.

He turned to the shaking woman below him. Gently he brought a gloved hand up to her face to brush it.

Trieze hoped in the back of his heart the simple contact would have some magical effect to wake his sleeping knight and know with certainty that she would handle things as they were supposed to go.

The monitor beeped.

What had happened to his dear Lady Une?

The OZ Colonel felt his eyes get tight.

Without another word Trieze walked from the Med-Bay with his entourage in tow. The doors closed as Trieze turned to Nichol.

"Show it to me."

* * *

Dragging the body into the empty room, Hiiro Yui closed the door then straitened his newly acquired OZ uniform. His mind felt a little strange at the clothing. There seemed to be a mental voice almost saying that he was a traitor to his cause. He, of course, ignored this voice and squashed it with his logic and training that had all but burned into his psyche. Looking either direction from the corridor to be sure it was clear, he made his way down the hall. Looking straight ahead with a machine gun slung over his shoulder, he trekked to the docking bay a few blocks down. He came to a junction and stopped.

He used this little pause to review his mission.

Capture the Eva.

Escape and Evade capture.

Rendezvous with Dr. J.

From what he was able to tell, Dr. J had sent him a brief that noted how to get to the cockpit of the strange Mobile Suit and despite its age should be still active. He was to relieve OZ of this Suit at all costs and find a way to transport it to the rendezvous point.

He was also to get it out in one piece.

Hiiro found it a bit strange that he would need to do such a precision swipe after all the smash and grab tactics up to this point, but that wasn't to say he couldn't pull if off. Double checking his sub-machine gun he slung it back to his side and continued down the hall to be passed by another OZ solider without giving him a second glance.

Stopping at a large double re-enforced door he looked up to see large stenciled letters that read: SHUTTLE DOCK DANGER.

"Attention on deck!" Hiiro snapped to attention and looked to the far wall.

Wouldn't do good now to blow his cover before he even got to the Mobile Suit. Even he had to admire OZ's caution in the situation, the defense ring they had set up as well as the guard detail were the most difficult he'd had to infiltrate. It was blind luck that he'd been able to lure a guard to the darkened hall.

An officer of some kind typed at a keypad that he'd planned to hot-wire just a moment before, but this would do. Assessing the number of soldiers the officer had in his party Hirro looked carefully to his left.

His eyes widened.

Less then three feet from him was Colonel Trieze Kushranada.

Looking to the people he had behind him he felt his jaw tighten. Zechs Merquies and his right hand Noin.

The hatch whooshed open causing a gust of air to suck into the doorway.

Hirro remained very still, though a small part of him shouted to take the opportunity and shoot the OZ commander and then turn on the other three and make a break for it.

But he had his orders.

Even Hiiro knew that he wouldn't get out of here alive if he killed Trieze in cold blood.

He watched from the corner of his eye as the officer leading the three passed through the door with Zechs about to follow.

Zechs paused and turned to look at the still saluting Gundam pilot.

_Shit! _

He'd been made!

Hiiro fought the urge to mow the man down with the machine gun and exit down the hall. He kept his cool and stayed his hand. Zechs seemed to notice the twitch the gun made in the pilots hand and smiled.

Noin stopped just as she was about to cross the threshold and was about to ask the masked man what was wrong when she saw the young guard and balked.

_That's it._

Hiiro leapt from the wall and snapped the gun to his shoulder. His finger flexed on the trigger.

The three stared at one another.

Zechs smiled at the young pilot. "Trieze... there's someone else that would like to see this..." Hiiro's brow knit at the small amount of humor coming from the mans voice. He looked at the open door hearing foot steps.

Trieze appeared at the edge of the door and gave the pilot a once over. "So… This is him."

Another pair of foot steps rushed to Trieze side. Nichol rounded the corner with his service pistol drawn. Hiiro snapped the rifle at the man.

"Your Excellency, sta-"

Nichol was cut off with a wave of the OZ leaders' hand. "Put your gun away Lieutenant."

"I imagine he's as curious as the rest of us," he said with an amused smirk.

Hirro watched Trieze turn back to him, "Please... come with us." and without further preamble walked back through the door. Zechs turned from the Gundam pilot and walked through the open hatch to follow.

Hiiro relaxed his gun with just him and Noin in the corridor. She looked at him for a moment, studying him as if something about him was off. After a moment she smiled ruefully at him, "OZ uniforms don't really do anything for you." Hiiro cocked an eyebrow at the woman, but did look down at the uniform.

Noin turned to the open hatch and stopped to look over her shoulder, "You coming?"

Thinking for a moment he pondered the consequences and risks of this invitation. Hiiro lowered his gun and strode up to the dark haired woman.

"Shall we?" Noin motioned toward the open door. Nodding the Gundam pilot fell into step beside her.

The two continued down the gang plank. Their boots clacking on the metal path.

Hiiro snuck a look to Noin wondering why this woman was so nice to him.

Unaware, both thought about how oddly comfortable it felt next to each other. Hiiro could see why Zechs kept her close, the Gundam pilot thought idly.

* * *

Captain Von wiped his brow.

He'd become accustomed to the constant chill of deep space, and though he knew it to be psychological he still felt warmer being this close to the sun. Or maybe it was just in here?

Shaking his head of such semantic thoughts he turned back to the gruesome looking thing strapped into a kneeling position on some Mobile Suit carts welded together for the things immense size. Even kneeling, the thing almost scraped the top of the shuttle bay.

Noticing a faint blue glow growing in the dark bay he turned to the gaping hangar door. They were working on finishing the lights seeing as the construction group had been rushed off in the middle of an electrical test.

The glow intensified.

Earth.

It had been so long since he'd left, he could barley remember what if felt like to have a real breeze rush over you or smell pollen in the air. As a boy he was so anxious to be among the stars that he took the simple pleasures of the ground for granted. Now after a weeks journey here he was looking at the cotton clouds roll over the ocean without a care.

For all the squabbles of man the earth seemed to go on uncaring and untouched, as though it were sleeping while ants marched across its surface.

_**Th-Thump.**_

Von shook his head.

That damn noise seemed to pop up at the most annoying of times, most when he was lost in some pleasant thought or deep musing. Sighing he turned to the monster shrouded in the dark. He frowned at that observation. No matter what, this thing seemed to eat ambient light. If you shone light on it directly you could see it. Without fail though, it consumed all indirect light.

He was starting to wish he'd never found the damned thing.

_**Th-Thump**__._

Von blinked.

When his eyes opened again their stood before him a woman with a white lab coat and short brown hair.

She looked kind of Japanese.

She was smiling at him much in a way a mother does her child. She was... attractive. Not in the drop dead gorgeous model way, more in the wholesome neighbor girl or young Elementary School teacher feel.

Wondering if she was looking past him rather than at him he looked down the gang plank to see no one there.

Yes! That meant she was looking at him!

When he'd turned back dark air greeted him.

Whoa....

What the hell just happened?

Was all that Von could think, he wasn't a spiritual and certainly didn't believe in ghosts. So how does an Asian woman in her thirties just vanish into thin air without making a sound in a second?

Von rubbed his eyes then looked back to the spot he saw the woman stand.

Nope. Still not there.

_Damn!_ He hoped he wasn't coming down with space sickness. Took a hell of a long time to manifest if it was! Maybe it was his proximity to a gravitational body that was affecting him?

Once more the Captain felt his musing interrupted by sound.

It was a number of feet clanking down from an access hatch from the opposite end of the gang-plank. Sighing yet again for having his musings broken he looked up to see who the darkness would unveil.

The first guy was a lower ranking officer some Lieutenant it appeared. The next guy carried an air of confidence and brighter uniform; seemed more decorated in fact.

Von shot to his feet in salute stone faced.

Trieze approached the man then looked to the shoulder patch of his flight suit. "So you're the one that found it."

"Sir... I don't believe that to be true, Sir!"

Trieze frowned at the man's statement, "Why would you say that Captain?"

"Sir! Some of my crew spotted it while scouting for mining hot spots; I merely led the investigation, Sir!"

Trieze smiled at the man's humble admission. He liked a man that put his crew before himself. "None the less, Captain, I applaud your caution and discreet handling of this matter."

Trieze turned to the darkened hanger to see the amorphous blob of shadow that was the monster.

"Can we get some light?"

"They're working on it now sir." Nichol answered from the behind the two men. Von looked behind the two men to see some guy in red and what he guessed was a woman: a colonel from the leaf on her collar and a guard behind her. Looking carefully, he realized who the two were. "Sir?"

Trieze turned back to the captain, "Yes?"

"Would that be 'The' lightning Count and Lieutenant Colonel Noin?"

"Sir!" Trieze smiled a bit at the man, "You've heard of their exploits that far in space?"

"Sir!"

Trieze chuckled at the mans almost dogmatic nature and nervous posture, "At ease, Captain. You're the star of this show."

Feeling a bit sheepish the captain relaxed and offered a goofy smile at the OZ leader. "Sorry sir, been so long in the black... I'm trying to keep my manners."

"Quite alright Captain. What can you tell us about this... 'Monster', as I've heard it called?"

Von Frowned at the OZ commander.

He pursed his lip as he thought. "From our initial observations and some during the trip." Von turned to Trieze "The Exterior is made of some light flexible metal, most likely Titanium." Under it appears to be some kind of cushion or shock absorbing layer that appears... well...Organic!" He shrugged at this not knowing how it would be received by the OZ leader.

Trieze raised an eyebrow at the Operations Director. "Were you able to confirm this?"

Von frowned, "No, to be honest most of my crew - me included - were too scared to touch it." He looked over to the dark figure. "Aside from that we couldn't get any readings off of it." He turned back to Trieze who also frowned.

"Does it emit some kind of ECM?"

"We thought so at first, but from the looks of it, the range is to short and to precise to be any jamming device."

Trieze brow knit, "What do you mean?"

"The Jamming only occurs about five meters from any part of the EVA, and that goes for every part of it. Almost like its where some invisible bubble."

"EVA?" Noin piped in.

"It's what the markings on the shoulder call it: EVA-01. We're not sure what it means."

"What is its weapons capability?" The masked man surprised most of the group with his sudden question. Von blinked for a moment, but recovered.

"From what we could gather there didn't seem to be any canons or obvious outward weapons modules. Now that I think about it, the thing doesn't even have any thruster nozzles or jump jets!"

He looked apologetically at Zechs, "The only thing we found with it was giant red rod floating in front of it. We think the rod was acting as a primitive gravity-tractor pulling it deeper into space." he grimaced

Von looked once more to the dark blob, "How the hell either got in to space? It's beyond me."

The comment seemed to silence the group as they too looked at the dark ambiguous shape kneeling in the colonies hanger.

"POWER RESTORED. SWITHCING TRACK LIGHTS ON!"

The loud speaker boomed across the hanger like thunder. Lights to guide the foot path sprung to life with dim red.

"HANGER APPROACH LIGHTS ON!"

The blue stropping lights flickered to race in repeat down the length of each docking space.

The six soldiers watched as each light seemed to reveal a little more of the giant.

"HANGER SPOTLIGHTS ON!"

With that announcement everyone working in the hanger stopped to watch as the row of lights burst to life one row at a time to reveal the docking bay from opening on back. The final row of lights slammed on to reveal the purple behemoth and burn the veil of darkness from it.

"Lady Une was right...it is a Monster." Trieze, was the only one to find his voice.

Von, looked upon it troubled.

Zechs couldn't believe his eyes. This was what they had found?

Noin felt a chill work its way down her spine and even from the other side of the hanger felt she was to close to it.

Hirro released the grip on his gun to stare with open awe at the monolith before him. Sure he was a pilot to an awesome weapon, but this...

Though speechless, none could disagree with the OZ commander. It was terrifying; the red slashes under the dark eyes; the burnt and curled back armor around the red jewel in the chest.

"Where are all the joints?" Zechs managed to say after looking at the muscular arms and legs of the beast. No one answered.

Trieze eyes bore into the EVA. What was this? How had it gotten so far? Who made it?

These questions kept ringing through his head as the studied the giant. He saw the thick leathery tissue exposed from under one of the huge plates of armor. He had to have a closer look.

"Lieutenant Nichol, show us down to the hanger floor."

The stunned Lieutenant snapped out of his shock and nodded, "Right this way."

Making their way down the steps Von scratched his head and turned to Noin, "You guys didn't see a Japanese woman walk by did you?"

Noin shook her head with a puzzled expression.

* * *

So close now.

He could taste it.

Wufie opened his eyes as the alarm for the mission counter sounded. Looking to the blinking light he flipped off the counter, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

It was time.

* * *

Noin grimaced at the purple monster that now towered above her.

She still didn't like it.

Staring into the dark eye sockets, she was sure she could feel the thing examining her. A chill worked its way down her spine. Glancing over to see the Gundam pilots' reaction to the EVA up close she frowned a little. Hiiro seemed to be examining it, almost calculating what it could do just from looking at it.

Couldn't he feel the dark aura the thing exuded?

She felt like she was fucking drowning in it!

Looking to her long time crush she found him to be in much the same state as the Gundam pilot. Only Trieze seemed to eye the thing with an air of contempt and caution. She'd catch him looking into the dark eyes like she was, challenging it with his own glare.

She felt a bit strange at the relief she felt for her superior doing this.

She was tempted to touch the purple armor at first, just to see if it was real. Once her fingers were mere inches from it she felt the buzz coming off it and retracted her hand.

It was alive!

She didn't know how, but she could tell. She could almost feel the air shift from its breathing. She could hear the faint rushing of blood through its veins. This was no machine. It was a Golem! Some strange Frankenstein creation that was the peak, and down fall of some lost civilization.

Zechs studied the leathery exposed skin that swelled around the red jewel above them. It fascinated him so because this is where the cockpit should have been. Almost every Mobile Suit developed had a forward hatch that allowed the pilot entrance. Was it possible that this strange machine wasn't unlike the mobile dolls? Controlled from afar to keep the operator out of peril? Or was it that the hatch was simply elsewhere?

From the sheer size almost any part of it could have been fashioned into a cockpit. But no jump jets? No on-board weapons? What did this thing have to defend its self?

It was obvious that the thing had been in combat, burns, twisted metal, and just the look of its demeanor seem to tell of hardship and savage battles. Zechs turned away from the Suit to look at the long rod that had been floating with the 'EVA' as the Operations Director had called it.

It was blood red. The metal was thick but tapered to a razors edge on the sides. The thing was so thin and long it seemed impossible to hold up under its own weight. An OZ load crew was using some Mining Suits to detach it from the cable it had been suspended from when lowered.

Was this its weapon?

Despite its scale, and imposing looks, a beam saber seemed a more effective weapon than the rod. Again Zechs wondered how such a weapon could function, it size no doubt made it slow and cumbersome. Without a field test or through examination of the armor and the rod all his though was just conjecture. For all he knew it could be made of Gundanium or maybe even some other outlandish metal.

The Lightening Count watched as some OZ tech's brought some equipment over to the large rod. One of the officers was shouting for his subordinate to bring something and leaned against the rod with his hand. The man stopped turning his head with a distracted look.

Zechs looked up to see what had drawn the man's attention. His eyes widened at the naked girl with blue hair floating!

He blinked.

She was gone.

"Linda?" Zechs turned to watch the officer seeming to hug the air. Then he turned just… turned to goo.

The man's subordinates stood in horror at the sudden deflation of the mans uniform to be left with only orange goo. The men near the rod dropped everything they were doing and ran screaming from the object.

"Noin! Trieze! Did you see that?" Zechs couldn't believe it himself after he stood their and watched it happen. One moment there was a man in full uniform barking orders, the next he melted like a snow cone in the desert!

"What happened?" Trieze shouted, but was pushed back by the rush of troops trying to get away from the object that could turn people to slime.

Noin watched as Zechs strode up to the orange puddle. The masked solider looked on fascinated by the remains of the techs cloths and the tang like substance that had been the man moments before. The man's cloths were crumpled and soaked by the strange fluid. A strong odor of blood greeted his nose as he took a breath.

_What happened? _

Zechs could here the commotion behind him dying. He looked to the razor thin rod that shone bright crimson seeming to match the uniform he wore. His gaze bore into the artifact trying to figure out that mystery that it was. What was it? What was it made out of? What had it done to this man? The air seemed to hum around the strange object acting like a sirens call.

Zechs stepped towards it.

The hum was deafening. What had the man seen? What was the girl with blue hair?

Questions upon questions and only this object could answer them. It held the key… no. It WAS the key!

Before he realized what he was doing he looked at his white gloved hand hovering over the smooth unblemished surface of the thing. He could feel the heat radiating off of it, pulsing like a gigantic heart slow and steady.

It was breathing in his ears, whispers of some forgotten age calling to him. They were calling to him. He moved his hand to set it upon its smooth surface.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" His arm jerked back as a gruff some what famine voice scolded him.

Zechs blinked in confusion. "Noin?"

Before he knew what was going on the dark haired woman jerked his arm sending him almost sprawling back to crowd of OZ techs.

"Do you have some kind of death wish?" Zechs turned to look back at the crimson thing; no longer feeling its temptresses call. What came over him?

He turned back to Noin with a puzzled expression, "I know you have a lot of 'issues' to work out, but I don't think putting your self in front of trains is going to help!" She seemed pissed. Normally a dressing down in front of so many enlisted would anger the OZ Colonel, but being so near the object had made him unbalanced almost emotionally dizzy.

Noin watched as Zechs tried to shake his head clear causing her face to soften as she realized that the love of her life wasn't trying to kill himself. She was worried when he walked toward the thing; investigating the techs clothes, but chalked it up to his uncanny sense of intuition in strange situations. She had all, but trusted his judgment. Till she saw him raise his hand to the lethal device.

That was when she intervened.

Noin still scowled at the confused man. She glanced over to Trieze in the back of the crowd to see him nodded in approval before she took a tired breath. She looked to find the Gundam pilot, but did could not find him in the sea of faces. Feeling a twinge in her gut instinct she looked up to the gang plank erected over the Eva.

Hiiro bounded down the metal planks to the resting monster.

"Shit."

That was when all hell broke loose.

The neighboring hanger wall exploded into a wave of steal beams and sheets, rocking the very ground she stood on. Noin covered herself in a vain hope to fend off the falling debris. The sound of clanking metal and screams was a disastrous orchestra of noise that threatened to claim her hearing. A hanger light crashed near her bathing her in a shower of sparks.

Pushing one of the twisted panels off her body she stood shakily and coughed. "What happe – _cough _- happened? _Cough_" looking around dazed she watched the scrambling mass of people before she noticed a giant hole in the port side of the bay.

She gaped in terror at the white and red Mobile Suite with its dragon like arm. The same one that had left her alive and defeated at the Victoria base the same one that had stared this downward spiral of what once was a perfect career. The pilot that had killed her recruits while they slept.

"Gundam!"

Hiiro picked himself up off the gang plank and wiped the blood from his forehead with his sleeve. Using the railing as a brace he forced himself up to see the Shenlong batting away a mining suit smearing its pilot as a stain of red in its poorly protected seat.

What the hell was he doing here? Deciding not to look a gift-horse in the mouth Hiiro sprinted to the purple Mobile Suite, and jumped on to its back. Finding the lever he was looking for he pulled it with all his might.

_**Th-Thump.**_

A blue light.

Hiiro's world went dark.

* * *

Wufie looked about the hanger as the techs and soldiers scurried over themselves like roaches to escape an invading predator. He had waited patiently for almost a week in the adjacent hanger.

The wait had paid off.

Till moments ago the construction work had left the colonies hanger dark with the OZ security team little to do a thorough sweep of the docks. Leaving the unsuspecting OZ troops to 'miss' the normally conspicuous Gundam in their search of the complex. Wufie gave a charging Leo a quick burst of Vulcan canon from his Gundams' head before getting back to work.

Taking a casual glance over the hanger on his HUD he easily spotted the thing they called EVA crouched pitifully on the hanger floor.

Wufie _humphed_ at the purple chunk of whatever and scrolled his targeting sight to it locking red.

* * *

Noin watched in horror as the Gundam's arm seemed to shoot out passing over her bringing with it the wind zipping by like a Semi. "Get down!" She heard a familiar voice say before she was tackled to the ground by none other than the OZ Resource director.

* * *

Wufie watched uninterested as his Gundams' arm made its way straight and true to the purple horned thing. Easy enough mission, pity his enemy was so weak.

* * *

It had been a long time since it had felt other people.

Now like old… it felt the clamor all over it. Pulling it back to the world it had left behind. It had assumed that it would have left in its lonely peace for all of time. Its cold void of a tomb as it floated.

A monument to all man kind.

Then they came.

The unworthy or rotten. It could not feel its children, but it felt something else.

_Enemy._

Yes, for the first time in a long time, it had an enemy

_Enemy. _

_Enemy! _

_ENEMY_!

It had arms like one it had defeated long ago. It tore those arms off.

_ENEMY!_

It had feasted on its flesh.

_ENEMY!_

It would defeat it again.

* * *

Noin blinked.

In the course of that blink the world changed.

From the time it took her eye to close till the time it took it to reopen the giant went from sleeping to angry. Her mind could not keep up with what her eye was seeing as the monster bolted forward from the cables that held it to catching the flying appendage of the attacking Gundam. Its colossal right hand dug cruel into the metal making it crumple and warp before yanking in what seemed to Noin faster than the speed of light.

She watched as unbelieving as it brought around its left hand and slammed the Gundam to the ground.

Then to her horror and amazement its mouth opened.

* * *

It had been a long time since Wufie had felt fear.

The fact was, he wasn't sure how he wasn't pissing himself as the ear splitting roar caused the very cockpit of his Gundam to rattle. The lights above the purple monster cast the face in shadow allowing the eyes to glow with unholy fire.

_Enemy!_ A strange looking creature covered in black white and orange with ribbon like arms.

_Who are you?_ Red eyes narrowed with an accusing tone.

_Death! _ A black beast with bone, and purple hands punching the red orb on its chest.

_Genocide! _The black shadow of the purple beast. Its neck snapping in its hands.

_Kill! _A boy with red eyes and sliver hair smiling.

_Anger!_ A serpent of light.

_Enemy! _A man with dark glasses.

Wufie blinked as the world came rushing back to him was watch wide eyed and teeth girt as the right arm of his Gundam was tore from its socket. With a last thought of reason he jabbed the energy staff in Nataku's left hand at the monsters face. The strike was true, and steady.

Then the pike smashed against an invisible wall.

Wufie swore he could have seen a flash of orange light. Then the glowing eyes narrowed.

For the first time in his life, Wufie screamed in terror.

* * *

Zechs was beside himself. The purple monster was moving - fast! It had ripped the arm off the close combat Gundam who tried pitifully to stab at it with its beam weapon, but met some kind of invisible resistance. In an almost casual motion the behemoth used its left hand to palm most of the upper body of the Mobile Suite crushing its head like foil before cocking its massive arm back.

"What is it doing?" He had to say something, anything to keep his sanity and what was transpiring. One of the machines that made a mockery of the OZ specials was being dismantled like a toy. Zechs could see the purple armor strain to keep the bulging muscles…

Muscles?

The thing had Muscles!

Every thing happened in slow motion. The crouch monster threw its arm forward hurtling the white and red Mobile Suite at the launch doors.

_KABOOM!_

The dock doors gave under the shattering force. Zechs grab a hand rail as the air rushed out in a hurricane torrent. Men and debris took to the air hurtling like bullets out the destroyed hanger door. The sliver mask that Zechs wore flew from his face and into the vacuum of space.

"Zechs!" he turned to see the OZ Supreme Commander being dragged away by his soldiers to the closing bulk heads be hind him, "Get Noin!" Looking to see what the man was talking about he spotted Captain Von holding on to a bulkhead in his right hand while struggling with his left to keep hold of the dark hair woman flailing about in the vacuum begging for him to not let go.

Giving the rail which he clung to a brief look he looked backed to the terrified and tear streaked face of the woman clutching to the captains arm for dear life.

He could see her smiling face from when they met at the academy. The little winks she would give in class or passing in the hall. Her tear stained face at the Victoria Base when she lost to the Gundam. The look of resentment when she was lying on the floor today.

He let go of the rail.

The platinum blond man felt himself swept into the current of air. Watching the image of the captain speed towards him he whipped his arm out and grabbed the bulk head.

He almost let go when he felt his shoulder socket give way but grit his teeth and dug his fingers in. He lashed out with his left and took hold of Noins' other arm. The two men knew that they wouldn't be able to hear each other of the escaping atmosphere nodded and pulled with all their might.

Closer and closer they brought the woman to the safety of the bulkhead.

The emergency doors were sealing up to close the mangled hole in the hanger. It was over.

Then came another ear splitting roar. All three looked back to see the monster reach its arm out. The red rod lying on the hanger floor twisted in to a two prong spear before launching its self to the beasts' hand.

Eva Unit-01 stood to its full height, pan-caking the floor above it. Noin watched wide-eyed as it swung back the crimson lance crushing walk paths and the wall behind it. With a mighty roar it drove the weapon forward at the closed emergency doors.

Noin clamped here eyes shut and screamed.

* * *

Duo watched unbelieving as a section of the colony erupted. Four orange points of light emerged from the wreckage that looked to Duo …well… like wings! He watched as Leo's and Taurus alike drove at the large man looking thing with all the might and speed they had. But each was swatted like flies or cut in half by just a sweep of its arms.

He could say nothing at what he saw; words failed this grizzly spectacle, it was like a god marching through a hornets' nest.

"What could I do against that..?" He hung his head as he thought about the professors warning.

His radar beeped.

Looking up he saw something just outside the battle. It was white and red. He scrolled his camera and zoomed on the drifting object. "That's..!"

It was the crumpled remains of the fifth Gundam. Deciding he could do something, the God of Death opened the throttle and sped toward his downed comrade.

A/N: I know this isn't what alot of you wanted, but fear not. I appriciate all the comments I've got over the last few chapters and I'd like to thank all of you for giving your great imput.

I know the ending is going to put some of you off, but this isn't going to be how you think. I actually tried to avoid a gundam fight and really didn't want to put one in. It was unavoidable in its logic though. After talking with some of my friends they felt that Unit-01 wouldn't let anyone mess with it very much. Also the paralle between Wufie's Gundam and the 14th Angel were too sweet to pass up. This will not end up an Eva/Gundam slug fest and the main cast of Eva will not be made flesh. For those of you that really want that Spectral ghost haunting people, you'll get it. This fic will end on a hopeful note though.

This Fic is called 'Pandora' After all ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Pandora

Chapter 4

"What's the fucking monsters current position?" The Executive officer of Fortress Barge shouted to the radar tech. "We're having trouble tracking it! It's too fast!"

* * *

Unit-01 streaked silent across the blackness with it orange wings ablaze. The Leo it passed brought its cannon to bear sending a hail of tracer rounds chasing after it in an arc across the cosmos. The Eva appeared behind the mobile suit as a dark shadow, the Leo turned to look back with it large yellow camera only to have a massive purple hand tear through its back and out the front. The mech exploded.

Laser blasts one after the other shot into the cloud of fire where the Leo was. The Eva's head emerged from the cloud of debris with smoke trailing from it.

Jets burning bright blue, the Taurus mobile doll let loose another barrage of exacting fire on to its target. Its targeting system tried to identify the Eva in the cloud of molten metal, but was having trouble acquiring the shape. The targeting computer tracked a strange red flash that came from the giant's position.

Red met black causing the unmanned suit to crumple in under the sheer force of the impact from the lance, collapsing the space weapon like a neutron star before exploding.

* * *

"Another mobile doll down! Looks like it threw that spear!" another bridge tech shouted to the stand-in commander. "Good! That means it can't use it anymore! Send a signal to all remaining units to commence with a long range attack! Tell them to keep their distance from the fucker!"

* * *

The purple beast watched as the small metal men backed away. The Leo and Taurus suits alike began to shoot creating a wall of light rushing at the still beast. One of the Leo pilots watched with smug satisfaction as his rounds were about to strike.

Then they deflected off.

An orange flash of light flickered with each strike sending the tracers off in wild directions. The pilots smile died when he saw the behemoth raise one of its hands. A suit to his left exploded as something red streaked past him to the devil. The Eva snatched the red lance from its return flight and held it to its back ready to strike.

It zipped up to the Leo pilot.

He screamed pushing the throttle all the way back firing his cannon wildly, trying to keep his distance. It was no use as the white gleaming eyes filled his HUD.

The Eva swung the spear in an arc, splattering the mobile suit like a piñata before moving to its next foe.

* * *

"GODDAMN IT! WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO TO KILL THIS THING?" The barge's commander was tearing at his hair and threw his hat across the bridge.

"Commander." "WHAT?" the executive officer said spinning to see who spoke. Ensign Trowa Barton stood near a console with his arms crossed in the corner of the room. "If I might suggest, we could hit it with the barges particle cannon." The commander grit his teeth in anger, "And how do you propose that we do that? If you haven't noticed it's outrunning everything we've got and this tub doesn't fire with a pull of the trigger!"

All through the Oz commanders diatribe Trowa sat with his arms crossed and his one visible eye closed. He opened it. "It seems to go after whatever attacks it. I say we send out an order to hold fire. We then send a mobile doll to lure it in front of the barges main canon and sacrifice the doll and destroy the enemy suit in one shot.

The officer eyed the ensign for a moment while the rest of the command crew watched in anticipation.

He turned to the communications officer. "Do it."

* * *

The Eva watched as the tracer rounds and laser blasts ceased and the small metal men fled.

A shot rebounded off it's AT field from behind.

Seems not all of them were finished.

A black Taurus suit sped past as it fired, heading toward the blue ocean of the earth. The Eva gave chase. The Taurus fired desperately while zigzagging right and left drawing it nearer to the dark planet.

Then it stopped.

The Eva halted. It looked curiously at the strange metal man but then felt something stirring behind it. Something was wrong.

* * *

"Particle cannon 100%!"

"FIRE!"

* * *

Space Fortress Barge erupted into a blinding solar flare of red. Charged particles excited to the speed of light looking to release their massed energy ended up finding an outlet. They jetted off toward the purple monster and the mobile doll behind it.

The Eva unhinged its jaw in a soundless roar.

The purple demon and the Taurus erupted into a giant white fireball.

* * *

Everyone on the bridge struggled to hold on as the wave of excess particles shook the space fortress. The EM wave caused screens and lights to flicker from the close range shot.

The rumble subsided.

The crew was quiet as they waited for the report.

"Direct hit!"

Whoops and cheers sounded in the room. Trowa sat unruffled outwardly, but a little disappointed inside at having lost such a marvelous machine. Ultimately he decided to listen to Heero's words about acting on your emotions. Humanity didn't need a weapon that couldn't tell friend from foe, and it didn't need a weapon that had no equal. It was better that it was gone from the world.

"CONTACT OFF THE BOW!"

Trowa opened his eyes.

There was no way it could survive that.

"Regaining long range camera in five!"

No machine built by man could still function after a hit like that. Not even a Gundam!

The Screen flickered to life.

Trowa felt his eyes widen and his teeth grit. The bridge fell silent at the image on the screen.

A black figure stood with the lance at its side and with the earth behind it. The sun broke the horizon darkening the Eva as the planet began to glow behind it.

White burning eyes narrowed.

Trowa felt himself begin to shake as the beast looked at him. They had fired a weapon that should have broken it down to electrons,

There it stood… unscathed.

Unit-01 moved forward, picking up speed as it grew large on the camera. The bridge crew began to panic, Trowa could only watch as it got closer. It was beautiful, the sun blinding from behind, the blue gem that was earth, and death on bright wings of fire. The mighty beast reared its arm back as it reached striking distance of the barge. Metal strained as flesh bulged with strength swinging the massive pike down.

Trowa watched the rod come down.

Come down.

It… Wasn't coming down…

It stopped?

Sure enough the white glowing eyes narrowed and turned away from the Space Fortress Barge. It backed away from the battle ship and looked at the earth. The monstrosity lowered the lance.

It took off away from the barge at a leisurely pace.

* * *

It was coming at him! The Leo pilot tried to stay calm and listen to the orders to stand down, but it was coming right for him. He began to sweat and shake as it came closer.

Closer.

Closer.

And Closer.

Too close! He screamed and mashed the trigger sending everything he had at the closing abomination. The bright eyes narrowed and it zipped up to the offending Leo. Palming it with its free hand the Eva continued to rush toward the planet.

The pilot screamed hysterically as he kept firing point blank into the beast abdomen. The ammo pod ran out. The pilot jerk as he felt something hit the back of his Leo. Teeth grit and wide eyed he watched as orange sparks began to rush past the screens and the purple armor of his aggressor became more molten and bright.

The Eva held the Leo before it as it streaked through the atmosphere. Its eyes peered at the puny little man that had dared attack it. Chunks and flame flaked off the space Leo as the rush and burn of something going 25 times faster than the speed of sound burned the air it passed through.

The pilot screamed and kicked against the hatch that was held closed by the mighty hand that was using the Leo to break its fall.

The Eva looked down pitilessly.

The heat against its fuel drum was too much. The Leo exploded flaking away from the Eva's hand.

* * *

"Track it! We need to know where it's going to land!" The commander shouted as his crew scrambled to project the golems decent. He looked over his shoulder and did a double take seeing that the young ensign that had made the brilliant plan earlier was frozen in terror looking at the main screen. The stand-in commander walked up and patted Trowa on the shoulder. "You did good kid… There was no way to know it could survive that." He then left Gundam pilot to give out orders.

Trowa kept still, reliving the black shadow that charged toward them with the sun lighting it from behind. There was just no way!

* * *

The fisherman tugged at his fishing rod as the waves gently rocked his rowboat in the night air. Sighing he reeled the line in only to see that his bait was gone from the hook. "Figures." He said annoyed. Tucking his fishing rod into the crook of his arm he reached for the bucket of small bait fish. The light in the sky brightened like the sun causing the stubbled man's brow to furrow. Looking up he saw the source of the light in white blinding trail of fire.

The man narrowed his eyes as the ball of fire flashed over from white to orange to almost and eerie green. It arced over him crackling and rumbling the very air he breathed. The dark haired man kept looking as it touched the horizon.

Thunder cracked and clouds were blown apart by the sudden rush of air. The sky lit like the sun before the man was assaulted by a rush of air and sand. Then it all sucked back in causing the fisherman's ears to pop from the change in pressure.

Everything stopped.

A flock of birds cried angrily as they rushed out to sea. The fisherman could see the faint glow of orange in the distance, no doubt where the fire ball kissed the earth. The bird's calls died off, leaving the lapping waves the only sound he could hear. The man fingered a necklace he wore as he gazed at the unnatural glow.

He took his fingers from the pendant. Slowly a lopsided smile spread across his thin unshaven face, "Figures…" Still smiling, the fisherman took hold of his boats ors and headed in for land.

* * *

"Oh fucking Christ! I though I told you to destroy it!" Professor G spun from wreckage that was the Shenlong. Duo frowned at the man, but felt that his anger was a reasonable reaction. After all, the proof of the EVA's handy work was right in front of him. "I showed up too late. When I got there it was already… active…" The professor stalked around for a moment like a caged tiger, till he could no longer hold it in. The gray haired scientist yelled and tossed over a tool box, clanging and scattering its contents.

Duo said nothing as the man kept picking up tools and throwing them.

Huffing the man's rage finally died down. "Are you finished? Cause we have a problem that can't wait." Duo said.

The professor glared over his shoulder at the long haired Gundam pilot. "I've done all I can for Wufei…" The old man turned to face Duo head on. "There's no telling what coming in contact with the thing has done to his psyche." Duo grit his teeth, "Why won't you tell me what it is? What is it that you're afraid to say?" "The less you know about this thing the better off you are!" The old man stood his ground.

"So you're just gonna stand by and let it chew us up one by one? How does that solve the fucking problem?" The Gundam pilot punted an empty oil can across the hanger.

The professor watched as Duo tried to calm himself. "There's nothing you can do now that it's awake, we just have to hope that OZ sees it as too much of a threat over being a resource and destroys it." The young man looked incredulously at the scientist. "If you didn't notice, their last attempt wasn't a shining example of military might." The old man looked away from the boy.

"There is still one thing left we can do if it comes down to it…" the old man broke his gaze and walked over to the far wall with Duo feeling uneasy in tow. Professor G slid back a plate on the wall revealing a palm identification scanner, the mushroomed haired man put his right hand to the scanner. The light flashed back and forth before the word CLEARED popped up at the bottom.

Hydraulics whirred as a bath tub sized section of the wall slid into the hanger.

Duo peeked inside and almost swallowed his tongue, "Is… is… that what I think it is?"

"Yes."

Duo choked to find his voice again, "H-h-how, big…?"

The scientists gaze never left the containers contents, "Fifty Mega-Tons, same size as the Czar…"

The old man eyes narrowed as he looked at the crate.

"I only hope its enough."

Duo backed away from the man. "Why would you keep something like that?"

The old man's eyes were hard and cold.

"In case they ever found her…"

* * *

Wufei looked about the darkness.

Where was he?

What happened to the battle he was fighting?

Who was he fighting?

He needed to find his bearings.

The void exploded with a strange sound that seemed to swirl around him. It was…giggling?

The Chinese Gundam pilot looked all around seeing nothing in the black void. He stopped as the sound faded. He needed to get out of here, where ever here was.

He started walking forward.

_Where do you think you're going?_

Wufei spun around to find the source of the voice. It came in the form of a girl with long red hair and some kind of skin tight vinyl suit to match. One of her sapphire eyes was covered with a bandage as well as the entire length of her right arm.

Wufei blinked at the strange girl who looked at him with an eerie, vacant smirk. Giving her a once over he noticed that she seemed to be sitting cross legged on nothing while she leaned forward.

Another woman. The pilot grumbled in the back of his head, 'I don't have time to deal with a woman right now.' He restarted his trek.

_Aww, he doesn't have time for a girl…what a boring little boy…_

He hadn't said that out loud! He whirled around to face the girl only to see she was no longer there.

_What's so wrong with girls that you don't have time for them?_

The black haired pilot jumped, almost falling when he felt her hot breath on his ear. Regaining his balance he looked annoyed at the strange girl. He began walking again till she was out of sight.

_Where would you go?_

Again Wufei jumped as the voice whispered in his other ear. Sure enough there she was, sitting on nothing with that vacant smile. "Stop this! I have something important to do!" He stormed off again.

The air filled with more giggles and outright echoing laughter.

_Poor little big boy has something important to do! _Her laughs continued to circle around him.

He looked back to see her still staring at him, ugh… god she's creepy. He faced forward but jolted to find her in front of him. He looked back to see nothing. Looking to the front he found her eye inches from his. "Stop that! I don't have time for you, woman!" He stepped around her and continued, "I have a war to fight…"

_Ah, a war._

_I see… After all combat is a man's job!_ She giggled at this a little.

"That's right." He said glancing back, "And I don't have time for weak women…" again he found her before him.

She wasn't smiling.

_Weak… _ A boy with a white shirt and black slacks.

_WEAK! _ her voice boomed off the void.

Wufei took a step back as he felt the hairs stand on the back of his neck. The girl's feet retracted from their crossed position to allow her to stand. She was just a bit taller than he was, but he could take her, wouldn't be the first person he fought like this, and her injured arm would-

Wufei fell to the ground as he felt an explosion of pain in his skull. Images of him getting spankings for being bad when he was little flashed across his mind. What was happening? He looked up just as the red clad girl took a step.

Again pain made his brain case throb as his mind was flooded with images of Master O socking him across the face and him burning his hand on the stove when he was toddler.

He struggled to look up at the placid face looking down at him.

_Weak? _ A boy flinching under the red heads angry gaze

_You don't know the meaning of the word… _ A boy pulling back and forth on a girl laying in a hospital bed.

_Do you even know what it means to be strong?_ She took another step.

Wufei cried out and fell as his vision was flooded with every time he'd hurt himself as a child. Getting stung by bees, the soreness of vomiting when he was sick. Even the times he'd gotten paper cuts when he was studying to be a scholar.

_To be strong means to be in pain… _A girl in white with blue hair wheezed as she sat up from her gurney.

_Pain is a message to the brain to let you know you are alive. _Men in orange pull a boy in black from a crushed tube.

He convulsed as she took another step to emphasize her point.

_Can you take the pain? _ A blonde woman fell to her knees, crying.

She stepped again.

_Can you?_ A boy lying in a hospital bed missing an arm and a leg.

He could feel the time he skinned his knee when riding his bike.

_Can you!? _ A man with dark glasses retracted his hand that was now missing from his sleeve.

Another step.

_If you can't… that means you're weak… _The red head pushed a brown haired boy, knocking over a coffee pot and chairs.

She stood just a few feet from his shaking body on the ground.

He stayed there as he thought about the pain the last step had brought him. A pain he would never forget.

Slowly, he rose, "My family died when I was a child…" He was to his knees, "My clan destroyed my home so that it wouldn't be in enemy hands…"

He now stood looking at the girl with angry eyes, "I held my wife as she died for a future I didn't believe in!" He shouted at the girl teeth grit while his eyes were dangerous slits. "What do you know of pain?" He stared hard into her one sapphire eye.

"What have you ever lost?"

She kept staring at him with her blank dead face.

Wufei heard a door open behind him.

_Mama!_

He turned to see a little girl looking through a door way with a bright simile on her face looking up at something. He heard a distinct creaking sound from above him. Like something was… swinging? He covered his nose as methane and rot assaulted him. He could see something swinging in the light of the doorway. Looking up his eyes widened.

_Come die with me Asuka…_

_MAMA!_

Wufei screamed as he felt his head explode making him fall to the ground and roll back and forth as though he were a man on fire. Funerals, cuts, mean words, burning hate. All these were a hurricane assaulting his mind. Searing pain piercing his side as teeth impaled him. Acid burned away at his back, the flesh being peeled from his body.

Then it stopped.

He lay there panting, as his body struggled to tell what reality was. He heard a strange zipping sound, looking to the floor he saw a long white bandage falling to the floor in loops.

He craned up to see the placid face of the red head looking down at him.

…_You don't know what pain is…_

Wufei screamed.

It was all he could do. He wanted to tear his eyes out, he wanted to vomit, he wanted to bite off his own tongue. Any of these would have been a lesser evil compared to the horrible things being crammed into his mind.

* * *

"LET ME GO, LET ME GOOO!" Treize watched as the medics struggled with the foaming at the mouth pilot. The platinum blonde tossed the three men trying to hold him, even with his dislocated arm flopping around in a sick rag doll motion.

The crazed man charged the med-bay observation window, spider-webbing the glass with a single powerful hit. "IT TOOK HER, THAT FUCKING MONSTER TOOK HER!"

Zechs stared daggers at the nude blue haired girl standing just behind the OZ commander.

That girl.

Zechs could remember seeing her standing on the red pike before the technician exploded into goo. The crazed man roared as he felt his hate rise staring at those blood red eyes and that blank face.

It was her.

She did it!

"YOU FUCKING TOOK HER!" He punched the glass again splattering blood from his knuckles and bending the glass out.

"BRING HER BACK YOU GODDAMN MONSTER!"

Treize watched unflinching as the medics redoubled their efforts to restrain the Lightning Count who kept reaching for the glass. One of the men grabbed an auto-ject pen from a tray and stabbed it hard into the insane man's neck. The man tensed for a moment before slowly going slack and falling to the floor. Then medics were quick to whisk the injured man away and out of sight.

Treize stood there still looking at the blood slowly dripping down the broken glass. He watched it gather and pool and weave about the cracks in the demolished window.

Lieutenant Nichol strode up behind his commander and went into a salute, "Sir!"

Treize didn't move, "Report Lieutenant…"

Nichol gave a nervous swallow as he got ready to speak. "We tracked the mobile suit into the pacific where it impacted onto the main island of Japan."

"Where?"

The response was so quick the OZ officer blanched and had to try to remember what he was going to say. "We tracked it to the ruins of Hakone" Nichol licked his dry lips. "But the satellites are have trouble pin-pointing its location due to a large number of already existing craters in the region."

The lieutenant watched as Treize stood stark still and kept looking at the trail of blood on the glass. "Have them do a thermal scan…"

Nichol tilted his head, "Sir?"

"The crater it made will still be hot, do a thermal scan to find it…" Nichol straightened up, understanding his orders. "Will that be all sir?"

Treize stood a little taller. Nichol thought he heard a sigh but it was too soft to be sure. "Has the recovery detail found Lieutenant Colonel Noin's body?"

Nichol shifted as he tried to think of what to say, "Sir…recovery's still working… there…there's a lot to do still…"

The lieutenant watched as Treize bowed his head and clasped his hands behind his back. The OZ commander walked down the corridor heading toward his room. "Notify me the moment they find her…"

Nichol never got the chance to salute as Treize rounded the corner.

The OZ commander walked down the dark corridors, weaving right and left among the steel walls but only seeing his feet. His thoughts were heavy and troubled.

Everything… was going wrong.

Lady Une had fallen apart, two of the Gundam pilots were MIA and likely dead, whatever Zechs had seen had driven him insane. Everything was falling apart, he'd lost half of his actors for the stage and now this strange whirlwind called Eva had all but trashed his intricate plan.

Not seeing the guard to the room his specials had cleared he didn't see the man snap to attention. Treize just walked through the bulkhead and into the room they had prepared for him.

Once the door was closed he let out a tired breath and undid the collar of his blue uniform. He slumped against the door feeling the pressure of his skull throb. He pinched his brow hoping to alleviate the pain, but it was no use. Looking around the dark room his eyes caught sight of the large wooden desk to the right.

There was someone sitting in it.

His brow furrowed as he examined the intruder. The man had black hair the seemed to meld with the darkness, his skin was almost equally dark while a pair of white gloves steeple below his nose glowed. The light from his gloves reflected into the dark lenses of the glasses the man wore obscuring his eyes.

Treize blinked in confusion at the man. Was he from Romafeller? Did he work with the Gundams? Was he from some outside faction he didn't know? The OZ commander strode to the front of the desk, "Is there something I can do for you?"

A slight smile slid across the man's lips.

_I have a use for you…_

Once the words had left the man Treize struggled to keep his balance as the floor, walls and ceiling exploded into fragments and flaked away like dead leaves under hurricane force winds. The blowing force almost sucked the air from his lungs while hot and cold froze and seared his skin. Holding on to the floor with the tips of his fingers, he felt the tile bite and cut into his parade gloved hands.

Then.

The wind stopped.

Gasping for air, Treize let loose a deep cough, spitting up phlegm and small chunks of debris. Having got over the breathing fit he took stock of his surroundings. What happened? Did the room decompress? Were they attacked?

Looking around Treize blinked over and over not quite understanding what he was seeing. He shook his head trying to clear his mind, but when he opened his eyes the view did not change. Getting to his feet he staggered as he spun around trying to comprehend his surroundings.

The room he was in was monumental. The floor and ceiling were obsidian black covered in cryptic runes that sprawled and branched like a tree. Walls were replaced by floor to ceiling windows that slanted up while angry orange light shone through the windows.

It just wasn't possible.

Was he dead?

_Death creates nothing…_ Men and women alike in tan uniforms being mowed down by men in black combat gear.

Treize shook the awful vision from his head, looking around he saw the dark man sitting at a desk in the middle of the cavernous room. The man had not changed position, his glasses still shone with burning white but the light behind him cast him and his desk in a strange star shaped shadow.

The room felt cold.

The OZ commander ran through his head all the things he could ask. Thinking out every scenario and outcome and rebuttal, that could put him in control of this strange situation. He came up short.

He had nothing to relate this situation to. Every facet of what was transpiring was beyond logic, what could he possibly ask?

_You could start with asking who I am. _A dark man staring at a box with a radiation warning.

A man with thin blue eyes, and cold-weather gear looking up a flight of stairs at an older man.

Black monoliths with red letters float around the dark man.

Treize took a step back as the visions cleared his sight. What the hell was going on? He swept his gaze to the dark man to see him unfold his hands and rise from his desk.

His glasses kept glowing.

Eyes narrowing, Treize grit his teeth. "Who are you?" The man walked from behind his desk, clasping his hands behind his back he looked out the large window to his right.

_You could say I'm Prometheus… _A giant of light tuned and looked up.

_I stole fire from the gods._ A white torso nailed to a red cross.

_And gave it to man so they could fight the gods… _The purple Eva reared its arm back to punch its foe only to have the ribbon armed monster lean forward and blast its arm off.

Treize fought to keep his head clear. "What do you want from me?" He felt his anger rise. "Why are you showing me these things?"

_To prevent history from repeating itself. _ Spinning to see where the new voice came from Treize again found himself disoriented when faced with an older man with steel gray hair in an office stuffed with books and papers. It reminded him of a teacher's office from when he was boy, in fact the old man with his white shirt and loose tie seemed to confirm it even more.

_You see, humanity has done this before. _The old man sewing up stitches as gun-fire and mortars exploded around him.

_We set in motion events that in fact led to the demise of the human race… _A pair of fiery wings unfolded from burning spinning clouds bursting from the atmosphere.

A purple cross burst from a sagging pyramid before splitting in half.

Treize frowned at the man, "Why do you think I would do that?" he frowned at the smiling old man "I'm trying to save humanity!"

The old man smiled

_So were we. _A man in a brown uniform looked over a long haired tech's shoulder.

This was getting old. What proof did they have that what he was doing was wrong? He'd thought out every detail to making man hate the idea of war. What could possibly change all that?

_Eva… _A woman's voice made him turn to his right again making the world around him shift and mold.

Treize stood in awe at the city suspended above a forest in a massive cavern that stretched for miles. A plume of smoke blew past him. Turning around he found he was in a classy lounge with rich furniture and big circular tables. His eyes caught a blond woman looking at him from one of the chairs.

She was reclined with her legs crossed while giving the man half lidded uninterested stare.

_You've found her again. _Clawed hands burst from the black sphere sending a jet of chunky crimson like a water fall.

_Humans couldn't resist the call from her once before, can't imagine you will this time._ Piles of giant bones littered red trenches and orange pools.

The Colonel tried to make sense of the things he was seeing and hearing from the strange figures that greeted him at every turn. This was insane! No human could rationalize what was happening to him right now. Was all the stress of the day getting to him in this one big hallucination?

_I assure you that when it comes to Eva… you won't find any rationality… _

Bolts burst from flesh and metal sheets flew as the purple monster's arm grew out.

A boy lay naked as a woman in a red coat ran to him crying.

Three girls with blue hair stood around the dark man.

Treize shook his head, he was getting angry. What was he seeing? What did they want him to do?

_Stop history from repeating itself._ White eyeless beasts dropped down on black wings with disgusting grins.

The breath against his ear made the auburn haired man turn to find himself back in the cavernous room with the dark man standing before him with his glowing glasses.

The OZ commander blinked. "What?" The dark man circled round him like a shark.

_If Eva falls into the hands of man again it could start a chain reaction that could wipe the human race from the earth. _A man with a strange visor sat with folded hands.

_We barely were able to control the outcome then. _ The old man gave a smirk as Treize turned to him.

_And you wouldn't have the secrets to guide you like we did. _The blond woman flicked the ash from her cigarette.

"What is Eva?" The mobile suit commander found himself in front of the man with the glasses, "Why is this thing so dangerous? Why in god's name did you make it?"

The dark man smiled.

_Because a woman loved her son… and I loved that woman… _A woman with short brown hair picked up a small boy who ran towards her.

They looked.

Happy.

Treize's face fell trying to understand what the dark man had told him.

_If you fail to stop man from getting to the Eva…_ The old man.

_The result of man meddling with a god will be disastrous…_The blond with the cigarette.

_This will be the price you will have to pay …_Treize found himself on a mountain side with the dark man overlooking a crater. Blinding purple light ruptured from a sagging pyramid in the bottom of the crater.

Blinking his eyes Treize found the source of the light in the form of a burning cross.

The cross split down its center.

Wings arced down and sagged from the swirling tornado of debris. Attached to the wings he could see something. It was small and glowing. They were eyes.

The eyes looked up and so did Treize when he saw a black shadow pass over him.

"Oh god…"

White monsters tore at bloody purple flesh.

He thought he'd heard someone scream over the howling wind.

The point where the wings were joined grew brighter till thunder shattered his hearing and a pillar of burning pink fire spiraled toward him churning up land and ocean alike.

Treize screamed as the wall of fire was upon him.

"Your Excellency!"

Treize struggled to keep his breath in his chest while sweat dripped from his face. Looking around he found himself in the room he'd entered still dark and no different from when he first set foot in it.

What was all that? A dream? More like a nightmare.

"Colonel Treize?" Blinking at hearing his name he walked over to the desk to see the small video screen showing Lieutenant Nichol.

"Ah there you are your Excellency!" Treize did another glance over the room to see if any evidence of what he saw had transpired. "Is something wrong sir?"

Treize shook his head clear, "No Lieutenant… Report." He set his face and mind to business mode."Sir! We've pinpointed the impact site of the mobile suit 14 km off the coast of Hokane." Nichol smiled, "You were right sir, we switched on the thermal graph and found it immediately, and it turns out it's still there!"

Treize frowned, "Is it damaged?" "Unknown, sir. We have a satellite photo that shows the suit face down but after the hit it took from barge Intel has serious doubts that it's out of commission." To illustrate the point a detailed bird's eye view of the face down Eva popped up on the bottom corner of the screen.

Treize examined all that he could from the awkward image of the purple mech spread eagle in an almost cartoon like manner. Nothing stood out though. "I want a division of Leos and Aries to set up a perimeter for 10km, no one in or out."

"Contact Romafeller, and tell them we need heavy ordinance."

Nichol bit his lip.

"About that sir… Duke Dermail is on the other line. He wishes to …discuss… the mobile suit with you." The OZ commander frowned as his subordinate fidgeted. "Put him through…"

The screen showing the lieutenant winked out to be replaced by an old man with a well groomed white beard and hair. Looking somewhere off screen the old man sipped his (what Treize guessed) noon tea.

It got hard to tell time zones while in space.

"You wished to speak with me?" The old man continued sipping his tea. "I understand you've located the site where that new mobile suit crashed…"

Treize said nothing.

"We had some of the surveillance from the battle sent to us, and after careful review the committee and myself agreed that we need to put a lid on this."

"A lid?" The old man set down his cup at the question. "Treize, you're a brilliant soldier… but after reviewing the footage of the battle we cannot afford to let the nations of the world… know that the whole of the OZ Space Forces were almost demolished in 'one' battle."

Treize felt his face tighten at the accusation. "You're demoting me?"

Dermail sighed and looked at the screen. "No Colonel, but it would be better that you sit this out 'til we get control of this new weapon, then you will be reinstated."

The OZ commander felt more than saw the image of the dark man with the glasses.

_This will be the price you will have to pay… _ A giant white woman broke the clouds.

The old man smirked a bit, "After all, how could I stay mad at family?" Treize felt the bile in his stomach rise. "Until then you are on leave with full armed escort." The old man looked away from the screen to a far wall adjusting his uniform. "Besides, I heard Lady Une has been hospitalized. This would give you some time to look after her."

"What about the EVA?"

The head of Romafeller blanched in confusion for a moment before blinking in recognition, "Ah, you mean the mobile suit. I'm sending Chief Engineer Tsubarov to handle the recovery and head the research on it."

"After all, we can't let such a weapon pass us by." The old man smiled.

Treize felt his blood run cold with the man's words. It was just as they said. Man could not resist the call of Eva.

"Well I have a meeting to be at, relax a bit and enjoy some time in space; I hear the sleep is great!"

"Wait!" Treize rushed to change the man's mind.

"Give Lady Une my regards. Cheerio!" The screen winked out leaving the words 'End Transmission'. The OZ commander stared at the blank screen with the words burning into it. He didn't move as he let the words between him and the Duke replay and sink into his mind.

And the words of those… ghosts.

His expression soured as he thought about what had just transpired in mere minutes. They were right, and there was nothing he could do about it!

Do about it…

He blinked at that thought. The gears in the OZ commanders mind turned and spun as each piece locked into place until a plan took shape. Maybe there was something 'he' could do. Punching some keys into the console the words 'Connecting' popped on the display.

Moments later the screen popped to life. "Yes your Excellency?" said the saluting form of Lieutenant Nichol. Treize waited a moment rocking back and forth in his chair before darting a look from the corner of his eye. "How loyal would you say you were to me Lieutenant?"

Nichol cocked his head in confusion. "Your Excellency?"

A smile spread across the OZ leader's lips.

* * *

"You sent him to steal it…YOU IDIOT!"

Doctor J backed away from the enraged Professor G who was being held back by the bald, tall and strong Master O. "Him tampering with the damn thing is probably what set if off!" The old mushroom haired man struggled to free himself and beat the false eyes of the Doctor into the back of his skull.

"Calm down, I checked the flight recorder on the Shenlong, the Eva didn't activate 'til Wufei attacked it." The angry Gundam scientist ceased his struggles allowing the larger man to let go of restraining him.

"Why in god's name did you do it? You know what 'he' told us! So why would you try to steal it?" Professor G's teeth ground. For Doctor J's part the long haired crippled man could only crunch his brow in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" he said.

The three other Gundam Scientist looked wide eyed at their crippled compatriot. "You mean you really don't remember?" the prosthetic nosed Doktor S spoke up with disbelief. Master O palmed his face as he groaned while Professor G seemed barely able to contain his rage.

"You senile ass!" spit flew with each word. "Don't you remember what he told us? What he taught us?" The professor's shoulders were shaking with rage. "Sensei was the one that told us about Eva!" his words echoed off the dark hanger.

The five scientists had agreed to meet in Professor G's hanger to discuss what to do about the Eva. Duo watched leaning on the wreckage of what was once the mighty Shenlong Gundam with his hands folded behind his head. What were they talking about? Did someone know about the Eva before them? And where was the fifth scientist?

It was strange to watch the old men bicker as though the fate of the world depended on it. He just hoped it really didn't.

"Sensei? You mean that old fool? How could he know it was out there? The time stamp I found on some of the files on that thing are over 300 years old!" He looked what passed for incredulous for someone with fake eyes.

"And yet they found it exactly where he said it would be." Master O said folding his arms. "Sensei forgive us, we created monsters of war and brought a demon back from the Abyss." Doktor S prayed to the heavens.

"I still say he had to have gotten the information from somewhere else. And I see no problem, after all it's just a weapon!"

"Gods are not a weapon man should have." Professor G said with the others nodding.

"Who's this Sensei guy? Could he help us figure out how to destroy it?" Duo piped up getting the attention of all the Gundam scientists. The four men looked down unable to meet the pilots eyes. Duo watched their sullen faces about to ask what was wrong before Doktor S spoke.

"He won't talk to us anymore…"

Duo blinked with curiosity, "Is he dead or something?"

"He has to be by now!" "No, he's not." Doctor J was cut off by Professor G who kept his eyes to the floor. Duo's brow knit, "What's the problem, why won't this guy talk to you?"

Master O Spoke up, "If he's alive like the Professor says he is…He is… ashamed of us…"

Doctor J grimaced, "It's impossible I tell you! He'd be pushing a hundred years old!" "Either way it doesn't matter…he won't talk to us." Professor G said in a dejected tone.

The Gundam pilot was baffled by the old men's attitude, "What did you guys do that was so bad?" To his surprise he got an answer.

"We made Mobile Suits." Doctor J said.

Silence filled he cool air of the dark hanger as the four old men and one Gundam pilot chewed on their thoughts.

Doktor S sighed, "Our mole on fortress barge intercepted a communication from Romafeller; they've removed Kushrenada as head of OZ and are sending a detail to recover the Eva."

"Damn it." Professor G spat, which Master O could only grunt with in agreement. "We have to do something about this before they get any of its secrets." Doktor S said. "Just let them pick at it; the monster will wake up and trash them like it did before." Doctor J said without looking to the fake nosed man.

"What if it doesn't and Romafeller makes an army of them. What if it does and it doesn't stop?" Master O said from the spot he leaned against in the corner. "Then we will really see if what Sensei said was true…" Professor G muttered.

Silence.

"There may be another way." The scientists and the Gundam pilot looked to the voice that broke the quiet.

In the dark door way stood a man with a receding hair line and a mustache that pointed out like needles. Duo's eyes squinted as he tried to make the shorter person next to this new comer.

"We meet again Duo!" The long haired Gundam pilot's eyes widened as his face split into a smile. Dashing from his spot he gave the young man a bone crushing hug.

"Quatre!"

The albino Gundam pilot smiled as he returned the hug to his comrade in arms. "It's good to see you Duo!" "Aww man, it's great to see you! I'm glad you made it! I thought you were a goner for sure when I saw the Sandrock self-destruct!"

"All and good Instructor H, but I don't think throwing another Gundam pilot to the lion is going to make this any better." Came the snide remark from Professor G.

"Ah, but that's where you'd be wrong." The fat mustached man smiled.

"It's seems the young Master found something we left behind!" All the old men looked up.

Instructor H's smile grew.

* * *

_Where am I?_

Noin felt light, like a feather on the wind.

_You are safe_

Noin felt confusion at the soft voice.

_Where is that?_

She felt someone smile.

_Where ever you want it to be…_

Noin liked the sound of that.

She just wanted to float.

To be free.

Like when she was a little girl.

She could almost remember the feel of the ancient stone in the villa she lived in as a child. Her mother would get so angry with her for playing in the street barefoot.

She didn't care.

The stone felt funny under her feet.

It was cold in the shadow, and hot in the sun.

Mother would always tell her it wasn't lady like to play like the boys.

The boys…

_Is there someone you miss?_

Noin tried to remember.

She felt embarrassed.

_I used to like this blond boy._

Again she felt the voice smile.

_Is this what you want?_

Noin watched as her white world molded into a boy with long platinum hair and sad blue eyes.

A boy with brown hair and a white shirt flashed over the image for a moment.

She wanted to question what she saw, but was too entranced by the strapping lad in his cadet uniform.

She wanted to take his hand, she wanted to ask him questions all day while the butterflies danced in her stomach.

_Does he make you happy?_

The voice was motherly and soft.

Noin was about to respond when the handsome visage flashed over with a man wearing a red uniform and a silver mask.

And was replaced by a dark man wearing glasses.

_I… I don't know…_

The world burned white returning the handsome, rough edged cadet that raced her heart.

_What makes you happy?_

Noin thought hard.

But it just kept coming back to him.

She thought about how it would feel to walk with him down the stone pass with no shoes.

How it would make her eyes misty to be twirled by him at the ball.

She wanted to be his princess.

After all.

He was a real prince.

The image of him was replaced by a man standing in a ruined hall holding a picture frame in one hand and his mask in the other.

The man turned to change into a boy holding a broken pair of glasses.

Again Noin felt confused.

_What's happening?_

_This is the world as you wish it to be…_

Noin tried to comprehend the words, but nothing seemed to make sense.

_Wished it to be…?_

She stood in the cargo hold of a plane looking at a white mobile suit.

He was standing next to her.

_Here you have freedom to choose what you want to be real._

She watched the man turn and look at her with his deep blue eyes.

The image shifted again.

The face hardened as the skin darkened and the body shrank.

A boy in a green tank top held out his hand with his thumb on a red switch.

_Heero?_

The boy pressed the button.

Explosions lit up the cabin of her Aries as she flew down a street to avoid radar detection and use the buildings as cover. They would take the base this time!

Another explosion made her flinch.

When she opened her eyes she gasped to find a charred and barely recognizable man in her arms.

_I wish I could have seen space instructor…_

Mortified, tears fell from her eyes as she hugged the dead man to her chest.

She bowed down to the girl in the white dress.

_I'm a servant to the Sanc Kingdom_

She sat up to see Treize Kushrenada reclined in a chair. She felt weightless.

_What did they find?_

…_A Monster…_

Each memory tore at Noin's heart.

How could this happen to her? All she wanted was to be at peace! To love someone and for them to love her!

_Your heart has so much pain..._

Noin tried to curl around herself. Pulling her legs and arms tight to herself hoping they would shield her heart.

_I can't help it… I feel so alone._

Noin felt warm arms embrace her.

_You can stay here if you want._

Noin looked up to see the masked man being taken away in handcuffs at gun point. She watched as his white steed tore through the Ice to reach his red enemy.

She felt her heart ache.

_I can't…_

_He needs me…_

She felt the smile again. The warmth engulfing her started to fade.

She already missed it.

Noin hung her head feeling disappointed she'd driven such affection away.

The hand touched her cheek making her look up.

_Heaven can be anywhere you make it..._

Noin squinted to see through the blinding light behind the silhouetted woman before her.

Noin felt worry creep into her mind.

_What if he doesn't want me? What if he won't accept my help?_

She could almost see the short haired woman smile.

…_As long as you're alive, you will always have a chance to be happy._

With one last caress of the woman's hand Noin began to feel herself fall.

_Is this enough?_

And fall.

…_Yes..._

She felt cold, and heavy.

Cracking her eyes open she felt a sting. Her throat felt sore and her ears had that feel when you got water in them from a shower or bath.

Letting her eyes focus she wondered why the world was so orange, and looked like the inside of a mobile suit. Except you didn't have your legs against your chest in some weird liquid.

Controls were weird.

Wait.

Liquid?

Noin went to suck a breath when the all too strange feel of liquid pushed through her lungs. Eyes bugging from her head she went to scream in surprise but felt the strange rush of the thick liquid moving past her vocal cords.

The world began to jolt and twist around giving her the same strange feel of momentum she got in an elevator or mobile suit.

The world jarred to a halt. A weird sound that reminded her of a drain rumbled through the orange cockpit until the liquid dropped past her. A clank later and the OZ pilot was blinded by the cabin being flooded with light. Using her sore arms to pull herself free of the death trap she pulled herself up. Losing the strength to hold on she tumbled out against something hard.

She rolled over and over hitting hard until she stopped with a rough crunch and the feel of pins and needles on one side of her body.

Glad she had stopped moving she went to cough a breath but found herself vomiting. Orange goo erupted from her mouth making her feel like her insides were coming out.

Straining to take another breath, she found another heave of the strange foul tasting soup gush from her lungs. She took a ragged breath to find real air this time. Ah sweet air.

It stank like blood.

Was she hurt? Damn she was cold. The tiredness of her body was too much for the pilot to handle causing her to slump into the rough dirt.

All was quiet as a light breeze blew over the unconscious Lucrezia Noin.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

The rhythmic sound came from the other side of the lip of the crater. While the sun rose in the distance the sound got louder and louder as it made its way through the churned up dirt.

Crunch!

A pair of weathered sandaled feet stopped at the lip of the crater.

Thumping against the ground next to the sandaled man was a walking stick. He let his eyes take in the site of the sprawled purple giant before him before catching sight of a pale, nude body lying face down in the dirt.

The sandaled man smiled with his stubbly face as he fiddled with the pendant he wore.

"Interesting." The fisherman said.

He continued walking down the crater reaching the unconscious naked woman. Checking her pulse with his fingers he then moved his hand to her forehead giving a thoughtful hum. Carefully he wrapped the woman in the blanket that had been over his shoulder and picked her up as gentle as he could.

He went to start back up the slope of the crater, but stopped when he felt something.

It was like a tugging at his mind.

Turning back to the sleeping behemoth he eyed it with a frown. The hollows of the eyes remained dark.

Frowning the fisherman turned to trek back home.

A/N: Holy crap another chapter!

First I'd like to thank bdavi for reading this. You have that poor man to thank for burning his eyes reading my originals and correcting the mine field that is my grammar. Second, I'd like to thank all my friends that I forced to read this as I'm sure I annoyed them to read the new 'sentence' that I wrote that day. Third I'd like to thank everyone for reading this so far. I'm hugely surprised by the attention this story has gotten and glad everyone has been so receptive of the story. All authors worry about their work being boring or stale and I'm glad so far that has not been the case.

Had you guys with Noin for a second there didn't I? Thought she was dead, didn't you?

Now the questions are who is this fisherman? What happened to Heero? What will happen to lady Une, Zechs, and Wufei?

Comments and questions are welcome as always, and thank you to those that read.

Oh for the people that are curious about The Duke being related to Treize, I found that as a surprise as well when I did a little digging on his character. So believe it or not that's cannon.

(Till) next chapter! ;)


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